Seems like neither side will take the other side's point.  Dems, it makes sense to discourage people from using their children as a way to get into the US.  Reps, it's not fair to treat every desperate person who illegally crosses the border as a vicious criminal.  Let's talk about this, and Dems stop harping on "inflicting harm on the children" (one of the oldest lines in the book of politicians), at least until you address the issue more deeply than that.  I'm tired of it too.  And I pretty much despise both parties and their talking points.  And our asinine prez.  Ugh.

This documentary is well worth seeing.  It explains how the 13th Amendment did more than free the slaves, because it had an exception that said criminals could be imprisoned.  A massive cultural effort ensued to criminalize blacks, and our so-called "criminal justice" system was not sufficient to protect them from powerful white men determined to keep them down.

A Netflix documentary (called 13TH) shows us is just how easy it is to criminalize a previously enslaved population.  This history is ugly, and the present is not pretty either.  The percentage of our populace that is behind bars far exceeds that of any other nation, and the percentage of that imprisoned mass that is black or brown in skin color is also ridiculous.  There is definitely something wrong.

13TH was directed by Ana DuVernay who has quite a resume.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_DuVernay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13TH_(film)
( What I learned so far (we haven't finished watching the documentary)Collapse )

According to the Oregonian yesterday, there are 15 million illegal Mexicans in the US today. The announcement today is that Obama will issue work permits to some 800,000 young illegals instead of deporting them. The older folks are still getting deported, but the young will be... assimilated? Perhaps. Once they have a work permit, and they can be in this country under the light of day, they may decide they want to stay and seek citizenship.

( ruminationsCollapse )

She's running for congress. I met her today. I was downtown with a friend to go shoe shopping, and stopped by the festival in Heritage Square. It a marijuana legalization event and it was was fairly dead. ( She was trying to get my vote.Collapse )

Actually, I obediently filled it out. I'm 44 years of age and I think that may be the first time I've been counted. Unless my parents counted me sometime and I didn't know it.

I do find it amusing how riled up people get about it. I mean sure, worry about it if you're an illegal alien. It's worth worrying about. Fill it out so that the census taker man doesn't come to your door? Or don't fill it out and hide when the man comes. There are a lot of people in the US who want to chase out aliens just like those rednecks chased off the census taker.

I hear that 2010 will be the first year that nonwhite births outnumber white births in the US.

There's fear and consternation on the conservative side that this bill, introduced by Rockefeller, will give Obama the power to shut down the internet. On the other hand, the goal of the bill is to address security threats and provide all US internet users with a higher level of security for our data. So the question is, are there national borders in the internet, and do we want our country to protect them for us?
( links as food for thoughtCollapse )

As of this week, you cannot cross the Mexico-US or Canada-US border without a passport. There are many people who routinely cross the border who do not have passports. As of this week, those people have to choose a country, and stay there. Too bad if their family is on the other side from their job.
( moreCollapse )

And that is to Legalize Pot. She makes a good case for it here, in the Arizona Republic:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2009/03/14/20090314Valdez15-vip.html?&wired

Jesse Helms is probably turning in his grave. Helms opposed funding for AIDS programs, foreign and domestic. The U.S. travel and immigration ban for people with HIV/AIDS was his creation. He got it passed as an amendment on another bill. Because of the "Helms Amendment", the US has banned HIV+ people from visiting even for a day for two decades. On this planet only 13 nations ban HIV positive visitors and immigrants. A few of those nations include Iraq, China, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
( moreCollapse )