This isn't a strictly political blog post, though the inspiration for it came from a conversation with a taxi driver in Zihuatanejo, Mexico about a recent election. Our taxi driver was a very nice gentleman somewhere in his late forties or early fifties, though it has always been hard for me to put an age to people from other countries. My husband asked him if there was an election coming up, as there were banners up all over the place. The driver informed us that the election had past and that the man with the yellow signs won. When my husband asked him if that was a good thing, his responde was: "Who knows! He made so many promises, like they all do. But no one ever follows through with them."
I think these sentiments could be uttered in just about any country in the whole world. Politicians are politicians. Everyone who goes into politics has an agenda, whether or not they are honest about it. "Civilians" who go into politics generally aren't too much different then the politicians. In general, I worry about them as much as the "professionals" because I wonder if they are power hungry or if they really know what they are doing. At least the politicians generally have some idea about the job ahead.
I am an optimist, and I guess I don't like to think that even the wildest promises are made knowing that they cannot be kept. I like to think that the people making the promises are just ignorant or what they will be capable of doing once in office. Ignorance isn't too much better than blatant lying, but at least it's not intentional.
The point of this post (as I said at the beginning) isn't political. Politics are just one thing that bond us as humans. Societies face many of the same problems, and many problems are handled in the same ways. Are there differences? Sure, but I think at it's core, humanity is humanity. To say that any one race is different or superior or lazy or anything out of the ordinary (because we are all equally out of the ordinary), is ridiculous and ignorant and politics is just one more proof of that.
And by the way, if you are ever looking for a beautiful, warm, sunny destination where you can relax and just enjoy a vacation, Zihuatanejo is the most beautiful place I have ever been (yes, I think it beats out Broome, Australia, the previous holder of this distiction). It's not the cheapest place, but it is stunning and the people are so friendly and it is just a great environment! We'll definitely be coming back!
Showing posts with label liberal politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liberal politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sunday, July 4, 2010
5 reasons why I am proud to be an American
I realize that it has been a long time since my last post... well over a year, but I am feeling particularly patriotic today and I am hoping to post a lot more this summer. Being Independence Day, I thought I would share some of the things that I love about this wonderful country we live in. These are the top five reasons why I am proud to be an America:
1. Universal Health Care. Criticize it all you want; it's not a perfect policy, but what is? Now all Americans have access to affordable health care. That is the bottom line. In a country that is supposed to be best and most powerful country in the world, it is ridiculous for people to be without health care and to be dying of diseases that insurance wouldn't cover because they were deemed "pre-existing". Universal Health Care is common sense. Yes, there are kinks to be worked out, but it is new, so we have to give it time. Hopefully we'll learn from other countries' pitfalls and in the future, be able to teach them a thing or two about it.
2. Diversity. While two-thirds of the US still consists on non-Hispanic Caucasian Americans, our beautiful country is becoming more and more diverse every year. For a country that was founded on freedom and diversity, this should be no surprise. We are welcoming more and more people into our borders who are facing religious and/or ethnic persecution in their own country, students and scholars to study and teach in our universities, experts to work in our premier industries as well as the uneducated, who do jobs that many Americans refuse to do because we are "too good" to do them. Is immigration a issue that needs to be handled? Absolutely. But isn't it incredible that our children will grow up knowing so much more than we did about so many different cultures?
3. Freedom of religion. I would like to think that when the country was founded, if Muslims (or Buddhists or whoever) were being persecuted, our forefathers would have welcomed them and made them part of this country. Our country was founded on religious FREEDOM. Here are the words from the Bill of Rights:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
No where in that statement does it say "Christianity". Christianity may be the most prominent set of beliefs in the US, but it is not the US official religion and I celebrate MY right to choose what I believe in.
4. Freedom of speech. I have a big mouth. Ask any of my friends, coworkers, family, in-laws, etc. I talk a lot and I am not shy about giving my opinion or telling people they are idiots. This being said, I enjoy my right to criticize the government, the president and whoever else I choose to. I enjoy reading newspapers and books and magazines, many of which would not be as interesting if the government had to "approve" them. (Let's face it, would The Artvoice get government approval if it came to that?!) We can say what we want, write what we want. Does that lead to a lot of people saying and writing stupid, idiotic things? Sure. And we should be careful of our words and teach our children to be careful of thier words, because in today's world, words can get you into trouble. But it's nice to know that if I want to call the president a thumbsucking lilly-lizard moron, I can with relative impunity!
5. "The pursuit of happiness". I highly doubt that this is a right given in any other country (please correct me if I'm wrong). Only in American is it your Constitution-granted-right to do what makes you happy. So if you want to make your living taking care of bees or painting houses or building windmills, that's your right. If you enoy hunting or skydiving or scrapbooking, that's your right. If you stay married for eighty years and have eight children, twenty-five grandchildren and fifty great-grandchildren, or get married and divorced ten times over and have 3 kids with 3 different partners, that's your right, too. We have the right to do what makes us happy and not worry about if it makes others happy. Maybe we get a little carried away with it sometimes, but we have every right to get carried away if that makes us happy! ;)
Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!!!!
1. Universal Health Care. Criticize it all you want; it's not a perfect policy, but what is? Now all Americans have access to affordable health care. That is the bottom line. In a country that is supposed to be best and most powerful country in the world, it is ridiculous for people to be without health care and to be dying of diseases that insurance wouldn't cover because they were deemed "pre-existing". Universal Health Care is common sense. Yes, there are kinks to be worked out, but it is new, so we have to give it time. Hopefully we'll learn from other countries' pitfalls and in the future, be able to teach them a thing or two about it.
2. Diversity. While two-thirds of the US still consists on non-Hispanic Caucasian Americans, our beautiful country is becoming more and more diverse every year. For a country that was founded on freedom and diversity, this should be no surprise. We are welcoming more and more people into our borders who are facing religious and/or ethnic persecution in their own country, students and scholars to study and teach in our universities, experts to work in our premier industries as well as the uneducated, who do jobs that many Americans refuse to do because we are "too good" to do them. Is immigration a issue that needs to be handled? Absolutely. But isn't it incredible that our children will grow up knowing so much more than we did about so many different cultures?
3. Freedom of religion. I would like to think that when the country was founded, if Muslims (or Buddhists or whoever) were being persecuted, our forefathers would have welcomed them and made them part of this country. Our country was founded on religious FREEDOM. Here are the words from the Bill of Rights:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
No where in that statement does it say "Christianity". Christianity may be the most prominent set of beliefs in the US, but it is not the US official religion and I celebrate MY right to choose what I believe in.
4. Freedom of speech. I have a big mouth. Ask any of my friends, coworkers, family, in-laws, etc. I talk a lot and I am not shy about giving my opinion or telling people they are idiots. This being said, I enjoy my right to criticize the government, the president and whoever else I choose to. I enjoy reading newspapers and books and magazines, many of which would not be as interesting if the government had to "approve" them. (Let's face it, would The Artvoice get government approval if it came to that?!) We can say what we want, write what we want. Does that lead to a lot of people saying and writing stupid, idiotic things? Sure. And we should be careful of our words and teach our children to be careful of thier words, because in today's world, words can get you into trouble. But it's nice to know that if I want to call the president a thumbsucking lilly-lizard moron, I can with relative impunity!
5. "The pursuit of happiness". I highly doubt that this is a right given in any other country (please correct me if I'm wrong). Only in American is it your Constitution-granted-right to do what makes you happy. So if you want to make your living taking care of bees or painting houses or building windmills, that's your right. If you enoy hunting or skydiving or scrapbooking, that's your right. If you stay married for eighty years and have eight children, twenty-five grandchildren and fifty great-grandchildren, or get married and divorced ten times over and have 3 kids with 3 different partners, that's your right, too. We have the right to do what makes us happy and not worry about if it makes others happy. Maybe we get a little carried away with it sometimes, but we have every right to get carried away if that makes us happy! ;)
Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!!!!
Friday, January 23, 2009
FREEDOM of Religion
I consider myself fairly religious. I also consider myself Christian. Do I think that Christianity is the only "right" religion? The God that I believe in would not discrimanate people based on how they worship him... How would he handle non-believers? I'm not sure, but I do know one thing - IT IS NOT MY JOB TO CONDEMN THEM! And neither is it any person's job who is walking on our beautiful planet today!
I am sickened by people's outrage at Obama's inclusion of non-Christian faiths and non-believers in his inaugural speech. We finally have a president who represents diverse groups of people in our country and religion is what we're screaming about?! Religion is one facet of diversity people!
And I get REALLY pissed when people use "our Christian society" to verbally persecute other religions! Yes, our country was built (primarily) by Christians, but don't forget WHY it was built! It was built to ESCAPE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION AND HAVE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!!! It was built so that no one would have to suffer the same kind of tribulations because of their religious beliefs that the pilgrims suffered!
And let's not forget what we did to the Native Americans when we came here! That is something we still pay for to this day!
I work with Muslims and Hindus and non-believers everyday at my school. The religious systems of the Muslims and Hindus are just as intricate and interesting as Christianity. And I love all of my students and collegues FOR their differences! I have three Mulsim students who run in and hug me every morning. They do not care that my beliefs are different than theirs, just like I don't care about their beliefs!
So, let's be the country that we're supposed to be! People come here from ALL OVER THE WORLD, escaping atrocities that only happen in our nightmares! We can't even imagine what most of these people have been through to get here! Let's not judge someone because they wear a headscarf, a turban, a yarmulke, or anything else. Let's judge people based on their actions and their attitudes!
Obama was right to include everyone in his speech, because he was elected by everyone! Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, people from every race and creed voted for him! Should he ignore them just because they have a different belief system? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I give Obama props for making such a statement at his inauguration! YOU ROCK!!!!!
I am sickened by people's outrage at Obama's inclusion of non-Christian faiths and non-believers in his inaugural speech. We finally have a president who represents diverse groups of people in our country and religion is what we're screaming about?! Religion is one facet of diversity people!
And I get REALLY pissed when people use "our Christian society" to verbally persecute other religions! Yes, our country was built (primarily) by Christians, but don't forget WHY it was built! It was built to ESCAPE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION AND HAVE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!!! It was built so that no one would have to suffer the same kind of tribulations because of their religious beliefs that the pilgrims suffered!
And let's not forget what we did to the Native Americans when we came here! That is something we still pay for to this day!
I work with Muslims and Hindus and non-believers everyday at my school. The religious systems of the Muslims and Hindus are just as intricate and interesting as Christianity. And I love all of my students and collegues FOR their differences! I have three Mulsim students who run in and hug me every morning. They do not care that my beliefs are different than theirs, just like I don't care about their beliefs!
So, let's be the country that we're supposed to be! People come here from ALL OVER THE WORLD, escaping atrocities that only happen in our nightmares! We can't even imagine what most of these people have been through to get here! Let's not judge someone because they wear a headscarf, a turban, a yarmulke, or anything else. Let's judge people based on their actions and their attitudes!
Obama was right to include everyone in his speech, because he was elected by everyone! Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, people from every race and creed voted for him! Should he ignore them just because they have a different belief system? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I give Obama props for making such a statement at his inauguration! YOU ROCK!!!!!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sarah Palin & Katie Couric interview
Wow...how else can I even start to vocalize my reaction to this? Utter disbelief? Disgust? Horror? How is it that a woman who can not even string a coherent sentence together get nominated to be this country's vice president? How is it that she still apparently knows almost nothing about McCain? Does she not care enough? Is her life to busy to research the past of the person she presumes to run with in this election? It very much seemed that Palin was not at all prepared for this interview: (Questions and answers quoted and paraphrased from transcription of interview found at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/24/eveningnews/main4476173.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4476173)
Couric Question 1: What was her reaction to Sen. McCain's campaign manager recieving payments from Freddie Mac last month?
Palin Answer: "It is my understanding that he recused himself from the dealings of the firm" and I hope he's not doing that anymore.
Couric Question 2: "But he still has a stake in the company, so isn't that a conflict of interest?"
Palin Answer: "Again, it is my understanding that he (Davis) recused himself from the dealings with Freddie and Fannie..." Again, I hope not because John McCain and I are rallying against "the undue influence of lobbyists in public policy decisions being made."
My translation of what Palin said: I really have no clue about what really happened, so I am just going to say the same thing twice and then change the subject by talking about what McCain and I are doing to "change" Washington.
When Katie Couric asked her if she supports the bail-out, again, she skirts around the issue saying that she is "ill" about it, and that the people won't support it, so John McCain and she won't support it. Then, once again, she changed the subject, this time to the country having its "eye" on what John McCain would do, but not what Sen. Obama would do. Couric asked her why she thought this and then countered with the fact that Obama's poll rating are increasing during this economic crisis. Palin's reaction - "I'm not looking at poll numbers." WHAT?!
Katie asked Palin about the pros and cons to declaring "a moratorium on foreclosures to help Americans keep their homes" after Palin stated that she was not decided on her position on the issue. Palin's "pros and cons" - "Oh, well, some decisions that have been made poorly should not be awarded, of course." (Huh?) And again she finds a way to change the subject to what she and McCain are doing to "change" Washington.
This was not the whole interview, and it was not all that I found objectional about the interview (I hate the use of "good guys" and "bad guys" when talking about foriegn countries and their leaders...I mean, what are we in, a cowboy movie?). If I were McCain watching this interview, I would have put my head in my hands and cried my eyes out. I hopes this makes women who are on the fringe (you know who you are...wanting to vote for McCain so you can see a woman in office, but not entirely alined with his ideals) see that this is not a woman we want to step a foot into the White House on a tour, let alone to help lead this country. And I don't even want to think about if they do get eleted and something (God forbid) happens to McCain!
On a lighter note, Saturday Night Live did an EXCELLENT spoof of the whole interview! Tina Fey and Amy Poehler ROCK!
Couric Question 1: What was her reaction to Sen. McCain's campaign manager recieving payments from Freddie Mac last month?
Palin Answer: "It is my understanding that he recused himself from the dealings of the firm" and I hope he's not doing that anymore.
Couric Question 2: "But he still has a stake in the company, so isn't that a conflict of interest?"
Palin Answer: "Again, it is my understanding that he (Davis) recused himself from the dealings with Freddie and Fannie..." Again, I hope not because John McCain and I are rallying against "the undue influence of lobbyists in public policy decisions being made."
My translation of what Palin said: I really have no clue about what really happened, so I am just going to say the same thing twice and then change the subject by talking about what McCain and I are doing to "change" Washington.
When Katie Couric asked her if she supports the bail-out, again, she skirts around the issue saying that she is "ill" about it, and that the people won't support it, so John McCain and she won't support it. Then, once again, she changed the subject, this time to the country having its "eye" on what John McCain would do, but not what Sen. Obama would do. Couric asked her why she thought this and then countered with the fact that Obama's poll rating are increasing during this economic crisis. Palin's reaction - "I'm not looking at poll numbers." WHAT?!
Katie asked Palin about the pros and cons to declaring "a moratorium on foreclosures to help Americans keep their homes" after Palin stated that she was not decided on her position on the issue. Palin's "pros and cons" - "Oh, well, some decisions that have been made poorly should not be awarded, of course." (Huh?) And again she finds a way to change the subject to what she and McCain are doing to "change" Washington.
This was not the whole interview, and it was not all that I found objectional about the interview (I hate the use of "good guys" and "bad guys" when talking about foriegn countries and their leaders...I mean, what are we in, a cowboy movie?). If I were McCain watching this interview, I would have put my head in my hands and cried my eyes out. I hopes this makes women who are on the fringe (you know who you are...wanting to vote for McCain so you can see a woman in office, but not entirely alined with his ideals) see that this is not a woman we want to step a foot into the White House on a tour, let alone to help lead this country. And I don't even want to think about if they do get eleted and something (God forbid) happens to McCain!
On a lighter note, Saturday Night Live did an EXCELLENT spoof of the whole interview! Tina Fey and Amy Poehler ROCK!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Sarah Palin
I am very sorry if you disagree with me, but I personally think that McCain metaphorically slapped every woman in this country in the face when he picked Palin as his VP running mate. He wanted to choose a woman so he could get former Hilary supporters. I get that...I understand that completely...but a former beauty queen with only a year and a half experience as the governer of Alaska and four years as mayor of a town with less than 5,500 people?!?! (My home town of Clarence has over 26,000 people, to give some of my readers a proper scale.) This so-called feminist opposes abortion, even in cases of rape and incest?!!! She thinks that creationism should be taught in school (so much for the separation of church and state!). She does not believe that global warming is man-made (what?!), and opposed the listing of polar bears as an endangered species because it would interfere with oil drilling in Alaska!
With all of the more experienced Republican women out there, McCain chose Sarah Palin. Why do I think he did this? Because (I am convinced) he thinks women are stupid. He thinks we will vote for him just because he is running with a woman and he knows we want to see a woman in the White House (which we by all means do!). He chose Sarah Palin because he wants her to get all of our votes and then sit back and shut up.
Again, I am sorry is you supported Hilary and have decided to put your faith in Sarah Palin...I am sorry you are a complete RETARD who has given up all of your beliefs just so we can have a woman in the White House! There are very few people who want a woman in the White House more than I do, but it must be the right woman! Sarah Palin is against everything (okay, maybe not everything, but a lot of) what Hilary stands for! If you were a Hilary supporter, you should vehemently OPPOSE Sarah Palin! McCain chose her to win your votes, and she will just be a puppet for the next four years if they win. She will not be a strong presence in the White House...she will get the votes McCain is fishing for and that will be the end of her job!
Let's do the right thing and vote for Obama...it's what Hilary would want you to do! And let's hope that there is a good strong WOMAN running on the democratic ballot next time! A woman who deserves to be there, not someone who is there only to win women voters! A woman who will represent and serve us not the money-grubbing oil companies! I sincerely hope that this country will make the RIGHT decision this November, and vote for a president who will actually make a difference in this country and get it back to being the most respected and looked-up to country in the world!
With all of the more experienced Republican women out there, McCain chose Sarah Palin. Why do I think he did this? Because (I am convinced) he thinks women are stupid. He thinks we will vote for him just because he is running with a woman and he knows we want to see a woman in the White House (which we by all means do!). He chose Sarah Palin because he wants her to get all of our votes and then sit back and shut up.
Again, I am sorry is you supported Hilary and have decided to put your faith in Sarah Palin...I am sorry you are a complete RETARD who has given up all of your beliefs just so we can have a woman in the White House! There are very few people who want a woman in the White House more than I do, but it must be the right woman! Sarah Palin is against everything (okay, maybe not everything, but a lot of) what Hilary stands for! If you were a Hilary supporter, you should vehemently OPPOSE Sarah Palin! McCain chose her to win your votes, and she will just be a puppet for the next four years if they win. She will not be a strong presence in the White House...she will get the votes McCain is fishing for and that will be the end of her job!
Let's do the right thing and vote for Obama...it's what Hilary would want you to do! And let's hope that there is a good strong WOMAN running on the democratic ballot next time! A woman who deserves to be there, not someone who is there only to win women voters! A woman who will represent and serve us not the money-grubbing oil companies! I sincerely hope that this country will make the RIGHT decision this November, and vote for a president who will actually make a difference in this country and get it back to being the most respected and looked-up to country in the world!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Obama's VP choice - Biden
I'm not really sure how to feel about Obama choosing Biden to be his VP on the Democratic ticket in the upcoming election. I've done a little digging over the past few days, looking at his website and what people are saying about him. Pretty much the biggest negative that people are bringing up is that he sometimes says things he shouldn't. (Okay, maybe that's a nice way to put it...is 'he says things that make him look like an asshole' any better?) Honestly, if that's people's biggest problem with him, I'll take it! I'd rather have a VP who knows what he thinks and doesn't hide his viewpoints on things! Better to have someone who comes out and says what he wants than someone who can't even string a sentence together grammatically!
I think he is a pretty good match for Obama. I think they will complement each other nicely. Here are few things that I like about Biden: 1) He is strong for education. No Child Left Behind is awful! We have had eight years of Bush messing up the country's education system, and doing nothing to remedy it! I strongly feel that Bush's intentions were good when he passed the NCLB Act, but almost immediately, it proved not to serve the purpose it was meant to. I'm putting my faith in Obama and Biden to change this for the good of our children!
2) Biden is religious AND pro-gay-rights! Finally, someone who has learned to think for himself! I know the Bible...I know the passages that say that homosexuality is a sin...but there are so many more passages that preach acceptance and tell us that it is not our job to judge others! Go Biden for being your own man!
3) Biden realizes that merely pulling all of our troops out of Iraq is WRONG! I want to end this war as much as anyone, but to simply pull out all of our troops would be murder. This is the one issue that really drew me to Obama during the caucuses at the beginning of the year. They both seem to have a plan for withdrawing from Iraq; they don't merely want "to have all troops out of Iraq in 6 weeks" (approximate words I heard coming out of Hilary and Bill Richardson's lips). Let's face facts people, we still have thousands of soldiers in South Korea, and that war ended forty years ago! Do you think we could just pull out of Iraq and everything will be hunky-dory?
All in all, I am pretty happy with Obama's choice for VP. Is there a better candidate out there? Probably! But there are probably better candidates for president out there, too! The people who are best suited to run this country never will because they are too good of people to be politicians. At least with Obama and Biden I feel like I will be voting for people and not politicians!
Now, I just hope that McCain doesn't go and do something smart like picking Lieberman or Powell for his VP and really screwing our chances for victory!
I think he is a pretty good match for Obama. I think they will complement each other nicely. Here are few things that I like about Biden: 1) He is strong for education. No Child Left Behind is awful! We have had eight years of Bush messing up the country's education system, and doing nothing to remedy it! I strongly feel that Bush's intentions were good when he passed the NCLB Act, but almost immediately, it proved not to serve the purpose it was meant to. I'm putting my faith in Obama and Biden to change this for the good of our children!
2) Biden is religious AND pro-gay-rights! Finally, someone who has learned to think for himself! I know the Bible...I know the passages that say that homosexuality is a sin...but there are so many more passages that preach acceptance and tell us that it is not our job to judge others! Go Biden for being your own man!
3) Biden realizes that merely pulling all of our troops out of Iraq is WRONG! I want to end this war as much as anyone, but to simply pull out all of our troops would be murder. This is the one issue that really drew me to Obama during the caucuses at the beginning of the year. They both seem to have a plan for withdrawing from Iraq; they don't merely want "to have all troops out of Iraq in 6 weeks" (approximate words I heard coming out of Hilary and Bill Richardson's lips). Let's face facts people, we still have thousands of soldiers in South Korea, and that war ended forty years ago! Do you think we could just pull out of Iraq and everything will be hunky-dory?
All in all, I am pretty happy with Obama's choice for VP. Is there a better candidate out there? Probably! But there are probably better candidates for president out there, too! The people who are best suited to run this country never will because they are too good of people to be politicians. At least with Obama and Biden I feel like I will be voting for people and not politicians!
Now, I just hope that McCain doesn't go and do something smart like picking Lieberman or Powell for his VP and really screwing our chances for victory!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Gas Prices
I am really sick of hearing people complain about the gas prices! Yes, they are they highest they have ever been! Yes, it stinks! But we have been so spoiled for so long! I was in Australia in 2001 and the gas was like $1.40/liter! That's over $5.00/gallon! Hell, for at least the last six years, the average gas price in Canada has been double that of ours! Right now, in Australia, gas is over $6.00/gallon and in the UK it's over $9.00/gallon! So what the hell are we bitching about!
I'll tell you what: we're bitching because it costs over $100 to fill up our Hummers, which we have to fill up at least once a week because they get such poor gas mileage! Why don't we think about getting smaller vehicles? Because we are spoiled! We think that we can do what ever the hell we want, live our lives without a thought to anyone else, raise our children to be just a spoiled and selfish as we are!
We say "Vote for McCain and our gas prices will go down!" Yeah...maybe... He'll go drill the Alaskan wilderness and go to war with Iran! If you ask me, those two things will balance out and we'll still be stuck at $4.00/gallon, if not more! Will he give back the money to the sciences that Bush took away? You know, the money that should be funding projects such as finding alternative fuel sources, but instead is going to kill innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan. I doubt the sciences will be seeing much more money from the Republicans. But what do I know?
The only thing I know is that I'm going to chew out the next SUV driver I hear complaining about gas prices! Should be fun!
I'll tell you what: we're bitching because it costs over $100 to fill up our Hummers, which we have to fill up at least once a week because they get such poor gas mileage! Why don't we think about getting smaller vehicles? Because we are spoiled! We think that we can do what ever the hell we want, live our lives without a thought to anyone else, raise our children to be just a spoiled and selfish as we are!
We say "Vote for McCain and our gas prices will go down!" Yeah...maybe... He'll go drill the Alaskan wilderness and go to war with Iran! If you ask me, those two things will balance out and we'll still be stuck at $4.00/gallon, if not more! Will he give back the money to the sciences that Bush took away? You know, the money that should be funding projects such as finding alternative fuel sources, but instead is going to kill innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan. I doubt the sciences will be seeing much more money from the Republicans. But what do I know?
The only thing I know is that I'm going to chew out the next SUV driver I hear complaining about gas prices! Should be fun!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Immigration and my grandfather
I'm not entirely sure where my grandfather stand politically. He used to send me all of these email basically saying "Look at how bad immigrants are! Close our borders! Kick them out!" Being a teacher of immigrants and having many immigrant friends, I asked my grandfather politely to please stop sending me such emails. For the most part, he has complied with my wishes. He still forwards me many things, most of which I enjoy. He sent me a very powerful email this morning about being grateful for everything that we have, showing pictures of those less fortunate. It showed pictures of people from third world countries starving, working at extremely young and old ages, parentless children and many more. It was a fantastic email, so why do I bring it up here? Because of who sent it!
I severely want to write an email back to my grandfather saying: Don't you see? If you lived in these conditions, wouldn't you do everything in your power to get out of them? Even if that meant travelling to another country illegally? Wouldn't you do anything to give your children a chance to have a better childhood than you had? Wouldn't you do that for them?
I know the purpose of the email had nothing to do with immigration, but that was all I could see in it. Now that I think about it, it is a rather selfish email for someone who wants to close our borders to immigrants. It says: "We should be thankful that we're not like them, but let's not help them!"
I agree that our immigration system is broken in this country. Hundreds of women a year cross the border from Mexico into southern California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas just to give birth so their children can be United States citizens. We are one of the only countries that allows every baby born here to become citizens, regardless of citizenship of parents. This would be a good starting point for immigration reform!
Why shouldn't we just send them all back to their country of origin? Well, it would cost a lot of money and we'd be losing a lot of low paid physical workers. Yes, there are certain areas that would be affected by this more than others. But in some areas, many businesses would go belly-up if they lost their immigrant workers.
Plus, it's not like our government just finds illegal immigrants and ships them home. I had a close friend who came here legally, but over-stayed his visa. He was working illegally and got caught. He spent months in prison before they sent him home! We already have over-crowded prisons, I imagine they would overflow if we started putting more and more illegal immigrants in them for months before they got deported!
I know we are a selfish nation! Why else would we think it is perfectly fine to go to war for oil? (I know that wasn't the main public reason, but that's what it boils down to, right?) Why else would everyone be bitching about gas prices, when they are still lower than most of the world's gas prices have been for years? Why else would we still see thousands of SUVs on the road, despite the high gas prices?
I know, I'm a little off topic...back to immigration. All I wish is that people would think through every facet of this issue in a non-selfish way. Think about what it means for the immigrants. If they have to go back to their country will they be persecuted? murdered? or merely not be able provide as good a life as in the U.S.?
I severely want to write an email back to my grandfather saying: Don't you see? If you lived in these conditions, wouldn't you do everything in your power to get out of them? Even if that meant travelling to another country illegally? Wouldn't you do anything to give your children a chance to have a better childhood than you had? Wouldn't you do that for them?
I know the purpose of the email had nothing to do with immigration, but that was all I could see in it. Now that I think about it, it is a rather selfish email for someone who wants to close our borders to immigrants. It says: "We should be thankful that we're not like them, but let's not help them!"
I agree that our immigration system is broken in this country. Hundreds of women a year cross the border from Mexico into southern California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas just to give birth so their children can be United States citizens. We are one of the only countries that allows every baby born here to become citizens, regardless of citizenship of parents. This would be a good starting point for immigration reform!
Why shouldn't we just send them all back to their country of origin? Well, it would cost a lot of money and we'd be losing a lot of low paid physical workers. Yes, there are certain areas that would be affected by this more than others. But in some areas, many businesses would go belly-up if they lost their immigrant workers.
Plus, it's not like our government just finds illegal immigrants and ships them home. I had a close friend who came here legally, but over-stayed his visa. He was working illegally and got caught. He spent months in prison before they sent him home! We already have over-crowded prisons, I imagine they would overflow if we started putting more and more illegal immigrants in them for months before they got deported!
I know we are a selfish nation! Why else would we think it is perfectly fine to go to war for oil? (I know that wasn't the main public reason, but that's what it boils down to, right?) Why else would everyone be bitching about gas prices, when they are still lower than most of the world's gas prices have been for years? Why else would we still see thousands of SUVs on the road, despite the high gas prices?
I know, I'm a little off topic...back to immigration. All I wish is that people would think through every facet of this issue in a non-selfish way. Think about what it means for the immigrants. If they have to go back to their country will they be persecuted? murdered? or merely not be able provide as good a life as in the U.S.?
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