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An Open Letter from an Immigrant's Child
I can’t speak for all immigrants and their experience. I can only speak for mine. I am a child of immigrants. Our family was part of the second wave of immigrants from the Philippines started when America first colonized it in the early 20th century. My father was made a citizen in Hawaii shortly after its statehood, my mother a legal alien in the US for most of her life.
In the 1950’s the American zeitgeist for immigrants was to be as AMERICAN (meaning white and speaking English-only) as possible. And though one of these self-imposed requirements was physically impossible, the other one was exploited to the best of our ability. It got me and my sister a good education, good jobs, social acceptability. It also put a permanent glass wall between us and our parent’s culture--which I still mourn to this day. But that was the price of assimilation in those days.
Our family never associated with anyone outside our culture or family. In school, we were the only Filipino kids in class. We were ABFs (American-Born Filipinos), as English-speaking and pop-culture-loving as any American teenager could get. It was not until well into my adult life that I realized that the "American" person I deluded myself to be was not the under-developed child of immigrants I truly was. And those lessons, those reminders of my difference and therefore my social vulnerability--and there were many, many reminders--hurt.
To this day, when I see new immigrants reminded of their difference from the rest of us, when they are made less than other Americans, and when their lives hang in the balance as a “solution” to secure a voting bloc of the fear-driven and xenophobic, I personally snap.
I think of my mother walking a foot-wide metal catwalk high above boiling vats of ammoniated water in a frozen food factory, or my father leaving our house at 4 in the morning to cook breakfast for migrant laborers in the Salinas Valley. I can't bring myself to imagine what it must have took for them to want to be in this country that much to take on work like that. I think of the young men and women from Mexico who crossed the border to earn money to send back home. I see the waiters, the busboys, the factory workers here now--legally or not.
There was and is plenty to do in this country to employ entire nations to support its economy and infrastructure. And we do that already. And because of the work of immigrants who took on these jobs and stayed here, I know children and grandchildren and great-grand-children of immigrants-lawyers, teachers, doctors, actors, musicians, police and firemen, architects, engineers who are part of the tax base. Pay into social security, welfare, and public health and education services. Filipino, Mexican, Puerto-Rican, Chinese, Irish, German, Italian.
Unfortunately, it’s not hard to imagine what’s been happening in Congress this week. It has happened before, and again, and again and again. This argument will be brought up about border control, race and culture each and every time you have a politician willing and desperate enough to bait the fearful and demonize those most vulnerable for their own ends.
Now I know its complex. There will be short-term solutions that will make no one happy. And there needs to be long-term solutions that have to take place inside AND outside our borders. Yet I don't see cooperation or compassionate vision happening.
With the very meaning and reason for America's being at stake--a country where the experiment of many people, many nations in one country is a source of national pride, I fear a backslide into solutions for the "immigrant problem" that will make none of us recall this week in Congress as our country's proudest moment.
Well Fe, you're a great cook!!!!!!
Here's Morford:
Long Live The 9/11 Conspiracy!
Anyone still care about the heap of disturbing, unsolved questions surrounding Our Great Tragedy?
By Mark Morford
Here is your must-read for the month. Here is your oh-my-God-I'm-sending-this-piece-to-every-smart-person-I-know hunk of outstanding, distressing, disquieting media bliss.
Here it is: an absolutely exceptional inside scoop on the white-hot world of Sept. 11 conspiracy theories, writ large and smart by Mark Jacobson over at New York magazine, and it's mandatory reading for anyone and everyone who's ever entertained the nagging thought that something -- or rather, far more than one something -- is deeply wrong with the official line on what actually happened on Sept. 11.
See, it is very likely that you already know that Sept. 11 will go down in the conspiracy history books as a far more sinister affair than, say, the murky swirl of the Kennedy assassination. You probably already know that much of what exactly happened on Sept. 11 remains deeply unsettling and largely unsolved -- or to put another way, if you don't know all of this and if you fully and blithely accept the official Sept. 11 story, well, you haven't been paying close enough attention.
But on this, the third anniversary of the launch of Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq by way of whoring the tragedy of Sept. 11 for his cronies' appalling gain, what you might not know, what gets so easily forgotten in the mists of time and via the endless repetition of the orthodox Sept. 11 tale, is the sheer volume, the staggering array of unanswered questions about just about every single aspect of Sept. 11 -- the planes, the WTC towers, the Pentagon, the fires, the passengers and the cell phone calls and the firefighters and, well, just about everything. It is, when you look closely, all merely a matter of how far down the rabbit hole you are willing to go. ...
(click here to read the rest)
(Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/03/29/notes032906.DTL&nl=fix)
Here's Scalia:
He ventured out of his bubble & now writes a letter to the paper claiming he didn't give the finger to a reporter but instead made a Sicilian gesture meaning he couldn't care less.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2194854
Waking the Winter Soldier
Wake now Winter Soldier,
The Summer Guard has fled.
Our empire stands betrayed.
As they choose to die in bed.
Tyranny was born of us,
And caught the parent sleeping.
Amongst us grows a frightful roar.
That sounds like mothers weeping.
Winter Soldier please wake up.
From your long protected slumber.
Let go your dreams of better things.
And find safety in our numbers.
One if by land, is still the plan.
Our own borders now are haunted.
The old grow cold, the young grow bold,
And the innocent are daunted.
Winter Soldier wait no more,
Seize the day by the end of morning.
There is not time, to make it rhyme.
Stand and scream the warning!
From shining sea, to shining sea,
Let it be heard by We, the One.
May the Constitution live forever.
E Pluribus Unum is how it's done.
Winter Soldier, take freedoms torch,
We shall meet in the amber waves.
Right past the screams, lay our dreams,
And those that made them slaves.
Well, Christy, you did it again. Made me cry.
As I go off upon my way today and drive through the amber waves, your soulful, solemn words go with me.
Thank you.
You need a book published, and you need to go on the talking circuit. Seriously.
Is poor Tom Delay victim of a War on Christians?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/29/MNGHCHVJNE1.DTL
Also heard on NPR that poor Joe Lieberman is being ganged up on by democratic delegates who might just select someone else! "He's a Democrat in name only," said one.
Boy, that is a very sobering poem, Christy.
Fe,
I have heard you are a great cook!!
Our society is ever changing, ever changing, but I love the diversity of our ethic communities.
Some of my favorite trips have been in this country, as I explore the backgrounds and cultures that have melted us into these United States.
One of my favorite perhaps was a trip to New Mexico and Arizona, to the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon. There are Native Americans living there who still live very modestly on their reservations, and sell intricate beadwork and jewelry, and make the best Indian Tacos with fry bread that you can imagine.
I have also enjoyed ethnic communities in the bay area on the west coast, as well as on the east coast. Nothing like Vietnamese food ordered by a friend who risked her life in a boat (several others died during her trip) to come to America twenty years ago. Our culture is so fascinating.
Fe, could this just be a campaign ploy? Someone I was talking to the other night got upset about it, but it seems to me to just be another talking point to make the white/second or third generation people of color happy. We have watched them turn their eyes the other way for decades now on the borders. Could it be just because it is election season and it's campaign jargon?
Could it be just because it is election season and it's campaign jargon?
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at March 29, 2006 10:53 AM
Truth:
I think so. The Immigration "Problem" becomes a problem when you want to shore up a base. Its gay marriage. Its pro-choice. Its everything possible that wedges. By race, gender, sexual preference, tolerance level.
And its been tried before in California a couple of times. The results have backfired on the republican governors who attempted it.
You may have second and third generation descendants of immigrants who turn their backs--but can I ask in what environment are they based? Are they in a society that only "tolerates" them or does that society embrace them?
I come from a town where the feelings towards its predominately Mexican immigrant community have been polarized from the start. They are there to stay. In the decades that I've been around, it has transformed that town and its culture.
I still see signs of an apology for being who they are--for being in the way while arranging the produce at the supermarket, or speaking English with an accent. That hurts me, because I feel all of us have a right to be here.
In that way, the demonization of the immigrant has taken root in the person's spirit, and the colonization that keeps an individual feeling inferior and subservient is internalized.
That to me is a spiritual crime.
"You need a book published, and you need to go on the talking circuit. Seriously"
Haha. I have a novel. I have been blacklisted because of it. It was the only thing I ever wrote for money, who knew there were UNWRITTEN rules of writing? At this point I just give it away for free.
Glad you liked it. I enjoy my work. Very, very much.
Bush will spend spring break in Cancun, like the students. He'll also meet with leaders of Canada and Mexico, because he knows that even though they disagreed about the war, they also need to put food on their families.
Posted by: nmp at March 29, 2006 12:02 PM
Will Georgie be partyin' with Pierce in Cancun?
Kowabungle!
Breaking News
A federal judge has sentenced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff to five years and 10 months in prison in his Florida fraud case. Details soon.
Posted by: Fe at March 29, 2006 11:51 AM
And, might I say that I believe it is pushed down and harbored in the spirit, and passed down from generation to generation.
We are our ancestors, in many ways. There are some scientists who say that our very cells have memories. All of them, not just our brain cells. Culturally and socially learned feelings and attitudes that have stemmed from overt and/or covert acts hundreds of years ago are with us today. Man's evolution and salvation grows and changes from generation to generation accordingly. I have known people who seemed to have been born with beaten down spirits. Others came out a fightin'. I believe we inherit bits and pieces of our ancestors' spirits.
The America we hope to be will give equal opportunity. It's funny how the words I heard as a child ring chillingly in my ears this day.
I pray that this nation will be saved from the peril that is so dangerously near, and that we will be restored.
Posted by: monkey at March 29, 2006 01:36 PM
Roger. Gonna flip on the NOOZE.
Read this gem from the accountability presidunce...
Bush blames Iraq's instability on Hussein
Wednesday, March 29, 2006; Posted: 1:46 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Wednesday that Saddam Hussein, not continued U.S. involvement in Iraq, is responsible for ongoing sectarian violence that is threatening the formation of a democratic government.
In his third speech this month to bolster public support for the war, Bush worked to counter critics who say the U.S. presence in the wartorn nation is fueling the insurgency.
Bush said that Saddam was a tyrant and used violence to exacerbate sectarian divisions to keep himself in power, and that as a result, deep tensions persist to this day.
"The enemies of a free Iraq are employing the same tactics Saddam used, killing and terrorizing the Iraqi people in an effort to foment sectarian division," Bush said.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid accused Bush of sending "mixed messages" on Iraq that are hurting Iraq's chances for success.
"The president can give all the speeches he wants, but nothing will change the fact that his Iraq policy is wrong," said Reid, D-Nevada. "Two weeks ago, he told the American people that Iraqis would control their country by the end of the year. But last week, he told us our troops would be there until at least 2009."
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/29/bush.iraq.ap/index.html
'War' on Christians Is Alleged
Conference Depicts a Culture Hostile to Evangelical Beliefs
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 29, 2006; A12
The "War on Christmas" has morphed into a "War on Christians."
Last December, some evangelical Christian groups declared that the religious celebration of Christmas -- and even the phrase "Merry Christmas" -- was under attack by the forces of secularism.
This week, radio commentator Rick Scarborough convened a two-day conference in Washington on the "War on Christians and the Values Voters in 2006." The opening session was devoted to "reports from the frontlines" on "persecution" of Christians in the United States and Canada, including an artist whose paintings were barred from a municipal art show in Deltona, Fla., because they contained religious themes.
"It doesn't rise to the level of persecution that we would see in China or North Korea," said Tristan Emmanuel, a Canadian activist. "But let's not pretend that it's okay."
Among the conference's speakers were former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) as well as conservative Christian leaders Phyllis Schlafly, Rod Parsley, Gary Bauer, Janet Parshall and Alan Keyes.
To many of the 400 evangelicals packed into a small ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, it was a hard but necessary look at moral relativism, hedonism and Christophobia, or fear of Christ, to pick just a few terms offered by various speakers referring to the enemy.
To some outsiders, it illuminated the paranoia of the Christian right.
"Certainly religious persecution existed in our history, but to claim that these examples amount to religious persecution disrespects the experiences of people who have been jailed and died because of their faith," said K. Hollyn Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
"This is a skirmish over religious pluralism, and the inclination to see it as a war against Christianity strikes me as a spoiled-brat response by Christians who have always enjoyed the privileges of a majority position," said the Rev. Robert M. Franklin, a minister in the Church of God in Christ and professor of social ethics at Emory University.
more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032801632_pf.html
Wedgie.
It seems to me there are at least three issues:
1. What to do with the folks already here?
If they are here and working, then what is the big deal about letting them – and their families stay? Increase the minimum wage. Get them enrolled in the SS system. If the process is too harsh or costly, the folks will stay illegal. Why should anyone want to leave the country and return to become a citizen? That plan makes no sense at all.
2. What to do about border security?
We could build a giant fence and guard every inch of it. Of course, those that can guard it are in Iraq now. But think of the process.
Let’s suppose we do build an impenetrable fence. We have turnstiles which people can enter. How do we determine desirability?
So now we have people lined up at the border. What do we do with them? Is it going to be like a hiring hall where someone announces: “We need 10 carpenters in Boise” and a bunch of folks jump up and volunteer? Are we going to check them for explosives, weapons and drugs? Are they going to get medical tests? Is there going to be water and toilet facilities? How about food?
No one has said how this works and what the criteria is for letting people in?
3. How to get folks to stay in Mexico?
That is the toughie. Mexico is ripe with corruption at all levels of government; from the town constables up to and maybe including President Fox. Until wages, economic conditions and honesty improve, the border policy will be one country moving to another.
From Fox’s own bio:
The commitments undertaken by his Government include promoting quality growth in Mexico, better income distribution and offering Mexican children a better country free from corruption and full of opportunities.
He hasn’t done a thing or maybe the problem is so vast it is impossible to solve.
The Middle East is costing us about $1bn per day. For a lot less, we could help Mexico get its arms around corruption.
And, might I say that I believe it is pushed down and harbored in the spirit, and passed down from generation to generation.
...
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at March 29, 2006 01:40 PM
Truth:
I am with you on that.
There is a real chance here to CHANGE a habitual political response and come up with something NEW. Something more thought out and long-reaching. And I'm not talking about a wall.
Battlebob:
Ya know-you laid that out just right. The questions on the "how to?" are the rub. ANd I don't think the immigrant communities are going to take things lying down. Not after last weekend.
By the way, caught the Rude Pundit on Michelle Malkin's horror about the protesters hanging the US Flag upside down underneath the Mexican flag, which is a first amendment right.
I find Michelle's horror amusing, being 1) a descendant of immigrants herself; 2) willing to shove Japanese into internment camps as traitors; and; 3)forgetting our history with America as our imperial colonizer--if there was an internment camp program around the time of the US-Philippine War, if they were here, her family would have been among those interred. I wonder if she sees herself as white.
Fe...you have mail :)
My father’s family came to this country form England in the mid 1700’s so there was no Ellis Island or anything. Was an indentured servant…married the bosses daughter…and 200 years later...along came me.
My mom’s parents fled Russia after the 1917 Revolution (they were members of the ruling elite) and settled in the Pennsylvania coal fields. They came through Ellis by having someone from the New York Russian community vouch for them. He had no real skills as his job was to rule and spoke no English. He signed a contract to be a coal miner and the company shipped him and his large family to the tiny hamlet of Penn 5. I always thought it was the name of the mine which still exists today as an abandoned deep hole in the ground.
My mom was born after the move and is the youngest of nine. My grandfather died in 1958 at the age of 75 and my grandmother died in 1980 at the age of 95. She never spoke a word of English.
As a child growing up in the western Chicago suburbs I spoke Russian before English. This was in the 50’s and with the Red Menace and a nearby Nike antiaircraft missile battery near the house we became English only. This was not a good time to be of Russian ancestry.
My grandmother had a brother still in Russia. We were allowed to send him care packages several times a year. The contents were restricted and sending money was forbidden. We did this for several years and for some unknown reason my grandmother put a newly minted $2.00 bill in the package. We never heard from him again and the packages were refused. We got a letter from the Russian government through the State Department saying all communication was being cut off because of the $2.00 bill.
My mother was Russian Orthodox and my folks were married in a R.O. church. There wasn’t any available and since our neighbor was a Lutheran pastor, we became Lutherans.
My professional life has taken me to countries very near where she grew up. I offered to take my mom many times to visit the old country. Even today, she says she never wants to go there.
I was old enough to remember Sputnik and quickly grasped the importance of it. I was one of the many geeks who became math and science nuts. It was the way to “retake the high ground” from the Evil Empire (it was called that long before Reagan). We used to have the atomic bomb drills (hiding under desks…the old duck and cover drills). I was the second group to get the polio vaccine. The previous group got the live virus and several of my classmates spent the rest of their lives in iron lungs. We got the dead virus and no one got sick.
veritas:
Call me
bbob:
I love your story. We're from the same time, and there are alot of parallels for each of us. English-only makes you pay a price, doesn't it?
Mary’s family is the opposite of mine.
Her mom’s family got here in the early 1700’s. One member is buried in the cemetery at Williamsburg, Va. Another was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. One branch moved to Cape Girado, Missouri, opened a furniture store, and were neighbors of the Limbaugh’s. Rush’s dad was a pretty neat guy; I think one brother was an accomplished violin player. Even as a youngster, Rush was a mean little prick. He hasn’t changed much since. They were strict Southern Baptists and retained much of the negatives of that religious branch.
Mary’s father was Serbian. His father left Serbia at the start of WWI to avoid mandatory military service. He settled in northern Ohio with thousands of Eastern Europeans who came to work in the steel mills. He was a conductor on the railroad. All the males in his family worked on the railroad. Mary’s dad was the station agent in Elyria, Ohio for many years. He spoke Serbian and it turns out my mom speaks Croatian – along with Russian. The Serbs and Croats have hated each other for nearly 700 years. This made for an interesting reunion. My mom said she learned the language as a child. It turns out her elementary school English language training was multi-lingual. With so many kids from Croatia and Russia, everyone learned both along with English.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060329/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iran_nuclear_12
U.N. Demands That Iran Suspend Enrichment
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council demanded Wednesday that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, the first time the powerful body has directly urged Tehran to clear up suspicions that it is seeking nuclear weapons.
{{{I hope the pix of Bolton holding up a piece of paper is still online if you click on this story.... Nasty. And, why is the UN letting Bolton-Bu$h-Cheney bully them???}}}
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060329/ap_on_en_tv/tv_al_jazeera_newman
CNN Correspondent Goes to Al-Jazeera
Excerpts (more on link):
NEW YORK - Lucia Newman, CNN's first and only correspondent based in Havana, has jumped to the new Al-Jazeera International network, which plans to begin operations later this spring.
~~~~~
The English-language network will be an offshoot of Al-Jazeera, the influential Arabic network that has come under fire from the Bush administration. Al-Jazeera International will broadcast from offices in Doha, Qatar; London; Washington; and Kuala Lumpur.
This winter, Al-Jazeera International announced that it was hiring Dave Marash, formerly of ABC News' "Nightline," as a Washington-based anchor and reporter.
As yet, no U.S.-based cable or satellite company has said it will carry Al-Jazeera International. With limited space available, it's often difficult for new networks to get substantial carriage commitments — even those without potential political baggage.
Al-Jazeera International has said it expects to be in about 40 million homes worldwide at launch.
{{{Who owns Al-Jazeera International??? And, why do I smell 100% propaganda news coming this way when the station opens, allegedly in May???}}}
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060329/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iraq
Bush Blames Saddam for Iraq Instability
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reading this article is actually an exercise in attempting not to laugh because I'm sure this evening's Lamestream Media will be showing sound bytes from The Cretin's speech, and just knowing that makes me want to retch because I'm sure the blind faithful will believe that pack of lies. Nothing is his fault, of course, etc. Can you spell WA-A-A-A-A-A-A...???
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060329/ap_on_re_us/lobbyist_fraud_10
Abramoff Gets Almost 6 Years in Prison
MIAMI - Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a business partner were sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in federal prison, the minimum they faced for fraud related to their 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.
Abramoff and Adam Kidan both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud, but they won't have to report to prison immediately.
The judge postponed their reporting date for at least 90 days so the two can continue cooperating in a Washington corruption investigation and a Florida probe into the killing of former SunCruz owner Konstantinos Boulis. Both deny roles in the killing. Abramoff pleaded guilty in connection with the corruption probe but has yet to be sentenced.
{{{More on link.}}}
Fe
Doesn't Michelle Malkin realize hanging the American flag upside down is a distress signal, as when your boat is sinking? It could be an act of patriotism, actually.
NonnyO
It could be that is it prestigious, on a world scale, to work for Al Jazeera. If you take a look at it routinely, it's a really fine paper.
I really like it. Would like to see what a tv network would be like.
Fe
Doesn't Michelle Malkin realize hanging the American flag upside down is a distress signal, as when your boat is sinking? It could be an act of patriotism, actually.
Posted by: nmp lurking at March 29, 2006 07:02 PM
nmp:
Sorry to say that one isn't the fullest six-pack in the cold beverages department.
Gallup: In shift, more Americans identify as Democrats
RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday March 29, 2006
In a potentially historic shift, the Gallup poll has found that Americans are now more likely to identify themselves as Democrats than Republicans -- a shift that may give Democrats a needed edge in the November congressional elections. (Hat tip: AmericaBLOG.)
"Americans are about as likely to identify as Republicans as they are Democrats according to a review of recent Gallup polls," Gallup says. "However, once the leanings of independents are taken into account, the Democrats gain an advantage. Democrats have been on par with, or ahead of, Republicans in party identification since the second quarter of 2005. Since that time, the percentage of Americans identifying as Democrats has held steady, but fewer have identified with the Republican Party and more as independents."
more...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Gallup_In_shift_more_Americans_identify_0329.html
Then again, it's Gallup.
Hot to trot.
Monkey
I've always assumed alot were Dems who switched over because of Reagan's PR image and Clinton's scandal .. soft Republicans & then there are people like my uncle who move away from the Republican party once the neocons have gotten in there & the fundie crazies. I know a woman who puts herself midway between Bush & Ted Kennedy - calls herself an "independent" - likes Lieberman & McCain. I think there are alot of those. They could definitely be swayed by the right events but may never be liberals or progressives.
... calls herself an "independent" - likes Lieberman & McCain.
Posted by: nmp at March 29, 2006 07:45 PM
Under that criteria, independent isn't exactly the term that leaps to mind.
Conviction Fiction.
FEINGOLD ANNOUNCES WITNESSES FOR HEARING ON CENSURE
Reagan Official Bruce Fein, Nixon Counsel John Dean to Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold announced today that Bruce Fein, former official in the Reagan Administration, and John Dean, former Counsel to President Nixon, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at Friday's hearing on Feingold's resolution to censure the president. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday morning.
Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer, served in President Ronald Reagan's Department of Justice as Deputy Attorney General. Fein testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 28th, 2006, regarding the President's warrantless wiretapping program.
John Dean served as Counsel to President Nixon. Prior to his White House service, he served as Chief Minority Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. In 1973, Dean testified before the Senate Watergate Committee. According to the Senate Library, Dean last testified before Congress in 1974. Dean currently is a columnist and lecturer on law and government and has authored several books on those issues.
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Former_Nixon_Counsel_Dean_to_testify_0329.html
Posted by: monkey at March 29, 2006 07:42 PM
giddy-up!
Monkey,
I think it's one thing for people to identify themselves with a party, but what I wish would happen was that we had more options--real options. But I'm not sure how much that would help either, because at one time in our country-during the civil war, we had four partys and they eventually ended up being just the two.
But with more voices, our voices are more likely to be heard and listened to.
Posted by: monkey at March 29, 2006 07:42 PM
Bobby Kennedy Jr. said that nearly 80% of Republicans are Democrat, but they don't even know it.
Oncall,
I think most of us are mixed. In some things we're very conservative and in others liberal. And for some people, they're just focused on one issue--religion or abortion or money-money-money.
My maternal grandfather escaped Russia with his brother during the Russian revolution. The writing was on the walls for Jews at that time. My grandfather made it to America. However, he had to leave his brother behind who died after falling into a frozen lake. My grandfather landed in Brooklyn (Brighton Beach to be precise) and provided the community with a general goods store. He fathered three children, two of whom became doctors, and one who became a teacher. My mother devoted herself to the disadvantaged and provided free medical care to children in the poorest of Chicago's suburbs.
My paternal grandparents arrived from Lithuania/Czechoslavakia, and also fled persecution. They ended up in central Pennsylvania and were one of two Jewish families in their small town. My father lived through the depression, postponed or denied himself some of life's simple pleasures and taught my brothers and me the value of hard work. He is a philanthropist who has contributed much more than money to causes in which he believes.
How is religious persecution that much different than not being given the chance to provide a decent life for one's family?
Tomorrow, I am going to Ellis Island with my wife and three children. It will be a miracle if I don't shed some tears.
I think some people identify with the oppressor, like they've been battered too long.
Posted by: sparrow at March 29, 2006 09:25 PM
That is true. But when one examines the positions that either party holds, it becomes clear to most people who are honest, that the Democratic party seeks solutions that are more in tune with the majority of Americans. I believe that is what he meant. Read these links and you will get a better understanding of the statement.
http://www.eande.tv/showAssets/related/021705/021705transcript.html
http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/LettersToEditor/1019.html
Posted by: oncall at March 29, 2006 09:44 PM
Beautiful story Oncall. Yes, I have a similar history in my family. I think you'll appreciate what your ancestors felt when you go to Ellis Island.
oncall,
Last night we met Christine Cegelis. When we asked her if she knew of you, she said, "OH yes! ____ of the Democracy Cell Project!
It was great to meet her, to hear her story, and to see the far-flung fame of this little online community!
Oh, btw, Oncall,
My maternal great-grandparents fled from the Ukraine.
My paternal side fled from Germany (maybe near Lithuania...I'm too tired at this point to remember.)
I remember hearing stories about them being crowded into ships to come over.
I also remember how they lost each other. Some lost their brothers, sisters, parents, children (etc) but I need to have the story reviewed again, before I repeat more details.
Posted by: karen at March 29, 2006 10:16 PM
I wrote Christine an e-mail congratulating her for her courage. I am not sure what her plans are. However she decided not to attend a Dupage County Democrats unity breakfast after the primary. What this portends for the general election against the DeLay hand picked Republican is anybody's guess.
Tomorrow, I am going to Ellis Island with my wife and three children. It will be a miracle if I don't shed some tears.
Posted by: oncall at March 29, 2006 09:44 PM
Have a good time tomorrow at Ellis Island. It's very imformative. Take in Ground Zero if you get the chance. It a very eery place.
Charley Reese : Time To Leave:
We, the United States, cannot fix Iraq now or ever. We can pay bribes and cajole and threaten, but in the end, the fate of Iraq is now in the hands of the Iraqis, and there is nothing we can do about it.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12549.htm
Bush Wants Another Regime Change in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032906Z.shtml
Senior Shiite politicians said today that the American ambassador has told Shiite officials to inform the Iraqi prime minister that President Bush does not want him to remain the country's leader in the next government.
{{{It's not enough that the Iraqis had elections; now Dumbya wants the freely elected leader to step down.... Presumably, the "elected leaders" for Iraq that Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee want are the men they can control and coerce to do their bidding....}}}
With a U.N. Security Council statement on Iran in hand, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Berlin today for talks on tightening the diplomatic noose around the Mideast nation. The Security Council unanimously called on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities within 30 days and cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/30/UN.iran.nuclear/index.html
Here we go again with the ultimatums.
Breaking News: Abducted journalist Jill Carroll released in Iraq.
Here is how the meeing with Vicente Fox will go...
thanks to the Az Republic...
2 faces facing up to immigration ills
Mar. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
The official line: Immigration is the "central point of discussion" as President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox meet in Cancun today.
What they don't say will be a lot more interesting.
Bush will use diplomatic phrases to describe Mexico's importance as America's second-largest trading partner.
He'll be thinking that everything would be a lot easier if U.S.-Mexico challenges were more like the issues involving No. 1 trading partner Canada, where the dispute is over softwood lumber. Not illegal immigration.
Fox will make nice about the prospects for a guest-worker program coming out of the U.S. Congress.
He'll be thinking that his legacy depends on it and wishing Bush hadn't abandoned immigration reform after Sept. 11, 2001. And why, when the issue did get some attention, did the focus have to be on national security instead of trade and economics, where they both know it belongs?
Bush will talk about the deep and meaningful relationship between the United States and Mexico.
He'll be thinking that Fox should have understood that immigration reform was DOA after the terrorist attacks. Why did Fox have to hold a grudge and oppose the war with Iraq a couple of years later?
Fox will wax eloquent about the shared heritage of Mexico and the United States.
He'll be thinking there was no need to get even about Mexico's U.N. opposition to the Iraqi war. Why have the U.S. State Department issue that warning to U.S. tourists about drug-war zones along the border a couple of years later?
Bush will talk about the importance of trade relations to help Mexico create jobs for Mexicans at home.
He'll be thinking that Fox sees illegal immigration as Mexico's No. 1 jobs program.
Fox will talk about the importance of not letting ex-patriot Mexicans think Mexico has forgotten them.
He'll be thinking: Why is everything always my fault? The U.S. needs those workers. Besides, Mexico would be in chaos if those ex-patriots stopped sending home billions to prop up the economy. Try to build a high enough fence then.
Bush will say Congress is moving toward a guest-worker program under his firm leadership.
He'll be thinking: Why is everything always my fault? Herding cats in Congress would be easier if the Mexican government wasn't buying full-page ads in U.S. newspapers to offer advice on U.S. policy. The millions we send to beef up the Mexican military ought to at least buy some quiet time.
Fox will point out the value of binational efforts to shape a guest-worker program.
He'll be thinking how glad he is that those rallies for immigrant rights aren't happening in major cites in his country.
Bush will say that immigration reform shouldn't become a political piñata during election seasons on both sides of the border.
He'll be wondering how it would play at home if he actually did take Rep. J.D. Hayworth's suggestion to publicly chastise the president of Mexico for expressing opinions about how the U.S. should run things.
Fox will agree about the piñata.
He'll be thinking that was supposed to be his line about the piñata, and hoping he doesn't have to use the reply he prepared just in case Bush actually took Hayworth's suggestion.
Then the two ranchers who came into office vowing to deepen relationships between their countries and achieve immigration reform will shake hands and amble off to their next lame-duck meeting.
The official line: They had a productive dialogue.
Benson on Bush and Andy Card
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/
``We have a number of tools, I think, at our disposal, including in sharpening the contradiction between the Iranian people and a regime that does not represent them,'' Rice said. The $75 million that has been requested to promote democracy in Iran could be used for that fight, she said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5718064,00.html
Gee, let's throw $75 million into promoting "democracy" in Iran while threatening the crap out of them. Maybe we can get another Hamas in Iran... or that wildly successful democratic Afghanistan.
What could $75 million do to help, say, starving children in this country... or crumbling schools... or Medicare... or Social Security... or port security... or...
Throw in the extra $100 million plus that Halliburton is overbilling and getting paid on anyway, and you could address a lot of domestic issues here in der Fatherland.
Oh wait, I forgot... Republicans, and neocons in particular, could give a rats ass about those pesky domestic issues.
I'll take phony democracy for a trillion dollars, Alex.
Florida subpoenas voting machine companies
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) — The Florida Attorney General's Office has issued investigative subpoenas to the three companies certified to sell voting machines in Florida.
Attorney General Charlie Crist is reviewing a dispute between the firms and Leon County's elections supervisor.
Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems and Software and Sequoia Voting Systems have refused to sell equipment to let disabled voters cast ballots without help in Leon County. Elections supervisor Ion Sancho has been outspoken about his concern that the devices can be easily manipulated to change race outcomes.
The companies' refusal has left Leon County, the home of the state Capitol, in violation of the federal Help America Vote Act.
Crist wants to see copies of documents relating to sales of voting machines by the companies in Florida since January 2003. Crist's office began the investigation in early February.
A spokesman for the elections division at Diebold says they haven't seen it, but will review it. Officials at Sequoia and E,S and S haven't returned messages seeking comment.
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=27945
At first I wondered how JebShrub could possibly allow this to happen... but he's on his way out, and gets to look like a morally upright guv if he weighs in now in support of this investigation (when his electoral future in FL doesn't matter anymore).
Good news nonetheless... but again, too little, too late.
The damage is SO done.
Received word via email that Dan Savage finally succeeded in getting the domain name he wants and I won't have to forget and say bad word or use asterisk:
http://www.itmfa.com
Nice merch, nice concept - let's do it! Brought to you by the man who coined the word "santorum." See his column at http://www.thestranger.com, Seattle.