My Brain Can't Be Saved

HAZARD SPEAKS HIS MIND ON THE ELECTION

2008-11-14T19:40:00.005-05:00

The following was emailed to me from the Hazard From Harvard (yes, the one in the Springsteen song) because he lost his login information to our blog (he will find it soon, I hope). I figured I'd blog it under my account while he searches... Suzi

As one who used to catch hell from some classmates at Neptune High (NJ) for expressing sympathy for the civil rights movement, I understand with perfect clarity the euphoria unleashed by Obama's election... but I have grave doubts about his commitment to truly changing our present condition.

I say this based on:

1. His recent speech----given even before his first official meeting with the incumbent---advising us to lower our expectations of what is possible, given the magnitude of the economic mess he's inheriting. there will be plenty of money to "rescue" floundering corporations, and plenty more for "the troops" (meaning to continue the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as operations across the borders of Syria, Pakistan etc.) but spending for cleaning up the environment, providing quality education, health care and housing for all---spending our money for our common good, in other words---will have to wait.

2. His appointments, especially of Rahm Emanuel (hard-line Zionist and rumored Mossad asset) and John Podesta (lobbyist for General Dynamics and other major corporate players) as Chief of Staff and head of the transition team respectively, do not bode well for real change, coming as they do from the inner circle of the Clinton administration, and former Chair of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker has been short-listed for Secretary of the Treasury, which reassured Wall Street--- but it should scare the bejeesus out of the rest of us.

It's important that people's expectations have been raised, because people who have no expectations are inert; but people who expect things to get better will act as if things will indeed get better--- which sometimes helps to actually make things better.

And, people who expect things to get better, only to see their expectations thwarted at every turn, will somtimes revolt.

We truly live in interesting times.

THE HAZARD FROM HARVARD

Restoring Our National Pride

2008-11-08T21:29:00.006-05:00

The election is over, all hail us, the American public, who didn't allow the election to get hijacked this time, and who actually elected a black man to the Presidency of the United States.

Or is he a white man? Seems to me he's as much white as he is black. That will give the bigots something to cling to as the rest of us celebrate our generosity.

Generosity, you say? Yes, generosity. If for one minute you think that most of the people who voted for Obama didn't at one point think of his color and decide to vote for him anyway, you'd be wrong. The truth is, we are still a nation of prejudiced people - of all stripes and colors, to greater or lesser degrees. We still see color... but not so much now.

The bottom line is, we're trying, and on election day we went a long way towards overcoming the wrongs of our ancestors, which is a damn good thing, even if for a moment each and every one of us saw color before making the decision.

Even if we had to justify our choice by closely scrutinizing each and every word out of Obama's mouth so that we could point to his plan to lead America out of the despair and desperation brought on by the Bushies and say to our fellow citizens that it was okay because he has a plan.

What changes we all went through when we realized that our salvation might lay in the hands of a black man! We were at first skeptical, then tentative, then relieved, because Obama made it easy, because of that plan.

We donated money, put up signs, worked the emails, and talked up a storm. We admitted, then declared that we were going to vote for a black man. It was a significant breakthrough for a large chunk of the voting public, and about damn time. The light shined down and fireworks went off in our national spirit.

Well, guess what? We won. WE FUCKING WON! And I think we were ALL fucking surprised.

And at that moment of singularity, when the news shows all declared that Barack Obama had won, we won more than just a race. We won back our pride and our rebelliousness, our joy and our dignity.

We became a nation of people once more, not a herd of cattle led by the rings in our collective noses by self-appointed gods who thought they should dictate everything we should do, and everything we should think.

Thank God for Barack Obama. He has allowed us to once again become a nation of, by and for THE PEOPLE. Hallelujah!

I'M BACK....

2008-10-24T22:55:00.004-04:00

It's been two long years since last I blogged here, but only because I had a computer catastrophie and lost the password and log-on to all my blogs. Anyway, lo' and behold, I just found them all, and I'm back.

Well, here it is, a week and small change before the Presidential Election. It's been almost than two years in the making, and I've followed just about all of it on television. What the hell am I going to watch when it's over?

I'm thinking maybe there will be some changes happening that will warrant news reporting, because I'm thinking that - hopefully - Barack Obama will be our next President.

I can't believe (well, okay, so I can believe) that John McCain and Sarah Palin are such negative assholes, attacking nonstop and giving us virtually no details on just how they intend to fulfill those promises they're both making. It's disgusting.

There is too much smearing of Obama going on - TV and the Internet are responsible for broadcasting this bullshit and all that "Joe the Plumber" crap that McCain and Palin have latched onto (Joe the Plumber should charge them for the use of his name and image).

It brings to mind the Nixon Watergate scandal - which by the way, had "Plumbers" involved, too, as I recall. Another Dose of Republican Dirty Tricks. What's next, and Enemy List?

I voted early. North Carolina has had the early vote for awhile now, so this time I took advantage of the opportunity. I cast my vote firmly for Barack Obama.

Some History Here: In 1988 I worked as a volunteer for the Jesse Jackson in '88 Campaign. I also registered voters with Project Vote and made contact calls for the Rainbow Coalition. Thus, Barack is not the first black person this yankee redneck woman has voted for. However, Barack Obama is by far more electable than Jesse ever was, although without Jesse Jackson, this time may not have come as it did.

I think Barack and the country has television to thank for shows like "24" (which had a black man as president) and "The Unit" which features a black man as leader of a squad of black ops Marines. They paved the way for reality, as some movies and shows always do.

So hats off to the people responsible for those shows, because the reality today is that white people all over the country - even here in the south - aren't afraid to vote for a black man because they got used to the "novelty" of having a black man in charge because of those excellent TV shows.

We've come a hell of a long way in my lifetime.

In closing I have one burning question I'd like to address to George W. Bush: "Who are you gonna vote for? The back stabbing Republican or the Democratic candidate?"

I'm sorry, God who?

2006-09-04T19:46:00.000-04:00

FASCISM

2006-09-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

A guest blog by Robert Lee Hefter
NOTE: I am determined to teach you guys how to use this blog! - The Dictator

I never thought I'd have to admit it, but Donald Rumsfeld finally got something right when he charged recently that some Americans haven't learned from history.

Most Americans, for example, probably don't know about the Reichstag Fire: the German Pariliment building was torched and the usual suspects - Jews, Communists and other undesirables - were rounded up. But the Nazis had committed the arson themselves, and Chancellor Adolf Hitler used it as a pretext for suspending civil liberties for all Germans. This bold fraud was the key that unlocked the horrors of World War Two. Indeed, history is replete with examples of rulers fabricating events to shock and terrorize their subjects into submission.

But Rumsfeld was all wrong when he claimed we're facing a new kind of fascism.

The word means what it has always meant: the fusion of state and corporation (think Krupp, I.G. Farben and Bayer in 1931, or Halliburton, the Carlyle Group and Bioport in 2003)

"Islamofascism" exists nowhere except in the desperate depths of the neocon think tanks. Fundamentalist Muslims, like fundamentalists of any stripe, believe that religious law should be enforced by the state; that's theocracy, not fascism.

Constitutional democracy requires a secular state, as the Founders knew only too well. If it's to survive in the 21st Century, it also requires that we stip corporations of all political power, especially their disasterous legal personhood. - Robert Lee Hefter, NJ

Taking Sides

2006-06-04T11:52:00.000-04:00

If the government chooses to allow the free entry of illegal aliens to the USA, without fear of prosecution, then to be fair they should give every american citizen a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for a one time use in cases of National Security and/or Felony arrests and they should afford EVERY american citizen the same additional benefits afforded to immigrants and illegals.

Not likely to happen anytime soon, but I think people like myself who are not afraid of offending fellow liberals and centrists on certain issues, would like to see something in terms of compensation to legal residents for politicians giving services intended for legal residents away to criminally-tresspassing illegal aliens. Sorry, I side with the Minutemen on this issue.

WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS IN CONGRESS?

2006-05-28T09:59:00.000-04:00

This is INSANITY!

The government says illegals are taking "jobs Americans won't do." Maybe so, but they are ALSO taking other jobs, and as their numbers increase so will the amount of other jobs going to the illegals because they live 10 to an apt., can work for less, and they send their bucks back to Mexico, etc., so they are NOT contributing very much to this economy at all!

What the hell is this damn government (the Senate) thinking when they want to reward criminals (illegals) by giving them retroactive social security benefits they earned with stolen social security numbers???? I think they've all lost their damn minds! Call your senator's office and tell them the idea sucks before this is the bill that gets passed!

And what the hell are they thinking when they want to make a law saying that we have to get Mexico's approval before we can put up a fence on the border? I for one am in favor of sending money to the Minutemen to build the fence! But you watch - if this law passes, our own gov't will tear down those fences because they were not approved by Mexico!

I watch both Lou Dobbs (my hero) and Bill O'Reilly, and damn, I think they actually agree on this - that the government has gone insane when it comes to immigration reform!

And for that one senator to say that declaring English as the national language is racism, I'm stunned! Who the hell is pulling the strings? If we have to see signs in Spanish as well as English, then we should also see them in Italian and German and Galic and Nordic - and, while we're at it, all 500 NATIVE American languages - etc., as well!

To NOT do that is racist if that guy wants it his way! If you do it for the Mexicans, then what about all the others in this country who speak other languages? I could go on, but don't get me started. I deal with Mexican illegals EVERY day I work, and you can tell who's been here the longest because their kids can speak English. The newbies' kids can't, and they all have babies (anchor children) in arm, thinking that grants them legal status. The truth is, it more or less does unless they commit some kind of felony.

Well, duh! Stealing identities, sneaking across borders illegally, lying to social services to get benefits only legals are supposed to get - are they not FEDERAL crimes and FELONIES? Yet Congress makes excuses for them breaking the law!

If the assholes in congress get away with this, then I want all Citizen drug possession felons who are not involved in a direct violent crime to be let out of jail. The Enron guys too. In fact, ALL non-violent Felons! It's only fair.

.

Alien Nation - Legal and Non - Simplified

2006-04-23T09:46:00.000-04:00

Some Bleeding Hearts would have us believe that this is a nation of Aliens.

Sure, once upon a time hoards of persons from Europe invaded the 500+ nations we collectively now refer to as "Native America". Then they put in orders with slave traders to kidnap and enslave and then ship here hundreds of thousands of "Native Africans". Oriental people were not of the mind to allow total enslavement, but they came, too, and soon became the underpaid workers that the railroads and western cities were built upon.

Which ancestors were yours?

Mine are a mix of European and Native American. I feel like a mix of European and Native American (specifically Penobscot and Tuscarora). That makes me able to hold a dual opinion on the subject of Aliens in the good ol' USA.

America is not just the USA. America is divided into two continents, North and South. Between them is the bridge we call Central America. Central America is now also often referred to as "Latin America". Why is that, do you think?

Latins - people with ancestry originating in Spain - invaded and overthrew the "Native American" nations in Central America, killed most of the native people off, and enslaved the remainder, using the women for sex and labor and the men for sex and labor. Sound familiar? But that's not THE point.

Our closest American neighbors are Canada, Mexico and Cuba.

Canada is divided into "Provinces" that are similar to, but larger than, our states. Though it was the French that mainly invaded Canada, the English made their way there, too. Most people in Canada are English-speaking. Quebec, however, is different. It's in Quebec that most of the people of French ancestry have settled, and by decree they passed a law to make Quebec's primary language to be French. When you go to school in Quebec, you learn French first, English second. Ever been to Quebec? Sharpen up your French language skills because it's how people communicate to each other. Keep that in mind.

Mexico, our southern neighbor, has "states". Those states, however, are more like Provinces. The poorest, the most rebellious, are the states that have a mostly "Native American" population (Native America does NOT stop at our borders). They have been kept "out of the loop" by the Spaniards since the first Spanish ship landed on their shores.

Latins run the Mexican government. The government is SO corrupt that while they've been padding their own pockets and neglecting the underclass, the underclass has been busy getting angry. The underclass has learned how to circumnavigate the law. They flaunt their lawlessness. It's a means of rebellion.

That's the gist of what goes on in Mexico, simplified. Everyone (well, we're generalizing, but go with it for a moment or two) from the ground up is breaking some kind of law. The country teeters on the verge of civil war ala Ireland. The rebellious states have again and again taken up arms against the central government and troops are regularly sent in to "quell" the uprisings. (Keep this in mind, too ) Yet our government and the Government of Mexico are buds.

Cuba is our next closest Central American neighbor. If there was a bridge or tunnel connecting us with them it would take us an hour and a half at 60 MPH to get to Cuba.

Before we cut ties with Cuba in the 60s it was the playground of the USA, what the Bahamas and Jamaica are today. Cuba was like Miami Beach East. It rocked! The big hotels were American owned and Mafia run, like in Las Vegas. There was gambling, prostitution, booze and drugs - you know, all the fun things Americans seem to enjoy. And our pals, the Cuban government leaders, were corrupt as hell.

So the people rose up. Castro took over, and it soon became clear to him that the Americans didn't approve of his rebellion (jeeze - we can't have our own poor people and workers taking tips from Castro and his rebellion - we'd have another Civil War on our hands!). So, wise leader that Castro was, he found some other nation to help supply his people with goods and services. He had the conviction (right or wrong) that Communism would work for Cuba.

So he began to close the casinos and shut down the wild life and corrupt institutions that Americans had brought to Cuba. As we backed away the Soviet Union took up the slack, and soon they were demanding favors in return for their service to Cuba, and it eventually took the form of putting nuclear missile launchers and missles into Cuba, aimed at the USA. You know the rest.

What you may not know because it's underplayed a great deal, was that when formerly wealthy and upper middle classed Cubans were forced to live like ordinary people they didn't like it, and they bought and rented as many boats and planes as they could and got the hell out, most of them coming to America via the Miami Underground Railroad. Illegal aliens hitting our shores in the thousands. Did we mind? Not so much. Why?

First of all, they were refugees from Communism, our dreaded enemy. Second of all because they were professional, contributing members of Cuban society, educated and easily able to adapt to American life. Some walked right into professional jobs here, others worked their way back to the top. Third, many of them spoke English because they were from a time when Cuba and America were buds, and English was spoken almost as frequently as Cuban Spanish.

Somehow, our current government has screwed up on their history lessons, and think that by welcoming Illegal Aliens (Not refugees, mind you!) who are mainly under-classed poor and the criminal element (is not illegal entry the same as the RAPE of American law?) and those who are too cowardly to help change their own government's policies (Mexico is NOT a Dictatorship!), they are being kind.

BULLSHIT! Kind to WHOM? What about the American Citizen who must now pick up the tab for this LIBERALLY spending bunch of ass-kissers we have in Congress who are falling over each other thinking they are helping poor defenseless refugees (NOT!) who only want a better life?

This is NOT the America I used to know. Not the United States of America, anyway!

This is MEXAMERICA.

Face it, Canadians are not rushing the borders by the millions. Nor are any other of the nationalities of the world. WHY, we even turn back CUBAN refugees and Dominicans who arrive offshore in rickety old boats, fleeing their own sucky governments, yet we want to allow millions of MEXICANS to take these jobs no "American" wants.

AND, has anyone even ASKED the Mexicans if they WANT to become Citizens? What makes us think they do? Yeah, right. That's why they wave their Mexican flags. That's why they want all road signs to be in English and Spanish. Some actually LIKE being Mexican Citizens and have no desire to change. Why should they when they can freely come back and forth across the border without being stopped, and when stopped they are merely transported back to try again? Has this country become SO egotistical that we just ASSUME everyone would rather be a U.S. Citizen than a citizen of their own country?

Why should they when there are no borders anymore to protect what little benefit there is to being a U.S. Citizen?

What The Hell's Going On Here???

2006-04-01T20:04:00.000-05:00

Does anyone think that if we create a "guest worker" program for illegal aliens that the illegals will stop coming?

Am I nuts to think that it will only encourage more to come?

Am I the only one sickened by the sight of Mexican flags being waved on American streets by people who are telling us our laws don't apply to them?

I thought there were huge protests last year against the corporations.

Don't those same protesters realize that the corporations are behind this movement to allow illegal aliens to take over our economy?

These same corporate entities need to have underpaid illegals competing with low and middle classed Americansfor jobs - so that American wages can be artificially depressed and Corporate Profits can soar!

We are being invaded by Mexico and the invasion is backed BIG TIME by Corporate America!

I wonder just how many of these corporations are Foreign Owned?

This insane move toward political correctness in the name of "helping the downtrodden" is not only dumb, it's illogical. The illegals are NOT immigrants - they are ILLEGAL invaders.

What do we do when these illegals demand the right to vote?

Don't laugh - There's already a movement underfoot to this effect. They also want the right to have one of their own be eligible to run for government office. We're not just talking foreign-born citizens of the U.S. - we're talking citizens of other countries!!

How would you like to have an illegal alien - perhaps a Mexican Citizen - as Governor of your state, or Mayor of your town? Or as President of the USA?

Have we lost our minds?????????

When do we begin to realize that we are in the middle of an actual political invasion of the USA by Mexico? When it's too late to stop it?

The illegals are organizing right now into powerful lobbies, and WE are covering our eyes to avoid having to see how much MONEY is being pumped into them by CORPORATIONS.

What makes ANYONE think the majority of illegals wish to become American Citizens?

Is that why they're waving the Mexican Flag in our streets, demanding equal rights with American Citizens without having to become one?

Why should they become a citizen of America when they are already afforded more rights and services than our own people have, while still being able to remain loyal to the country of their birth?

This SMACKS of something resembling socialistic communisim, and I think that there is a building backlash that may well make McCartyism seem pale by comparison.

I back the Senate bill to make illegal entry into this country a Felony and those that employ OR assist the illegals should be treated as Felons, too.

I think there should, however, be a 90 day grace period during which illegals can register as guest workers. After that, put the stopper in the bottle. No more guest workers should be allowed for at least 2 years, and anyone caught here illegally should be busted as a felon.

As for those that assist felons, let them go to jail. Start at the top of the list with the government officials and religious leaders who defy the law, and go right on down the line.

America for Americans. That includes Mexican-Americans as well as other ethno-Americans. We should treat proper LEGAL immigrants with respect, but they should NOT have the same benefits and rewards as citizens unless they earn them. Illegals should have NO rights other than those afforded by the Geneva Convention.

NOR should Mexican Citizens and other nationalities who come here ILLEGALLY have the right to protest in the streets of America! That is a right earned by and reserved for citizens, not for illegal aliens.

Call them what they are: CRIMINALS. Treat them as CRIMINALS.

Tough shit if they drag their kids here and subject them to being CRIMINALS, too.

By entering this country ILLEGALLY they are ALREADY showing DISRESPECT for the laws of this country! They spit in the face of the rule of law and our lawmakers are bending over and taking it up the rear like prison bitches.

To quote Sonny Crockett, "What the hell's going on here?"

I think it's time to dose the water supply with LSD - maybe it will bring us back to reality.
Jeeze....

Bigots, Idiots, and Realists...

2006-03-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

This is to the Conservatives and Liberals alike:

Some people think I am an idiot for not wanting to leave our borders open to everyone. Others think I'm an idiot for not wanting to slam them shut to everyone.

Right here I want to say something...

I am Neither liberal or conservative. Nor do I wish to be associated with either side of that hysteria. I'm an American.

What that means to you may NOT be what it means to me. I come from a military family and was for several years a military wife. I also for many years worked to oppose the war in Vietnam. Americans are people not afraid to speak their minds.

I don't try to make people who disagree with my opinions appear foolish, yet I have found that many liberals MOCK people who disagree with them, as do many conservatives.

The name-calling and this closed-mindedness is exactly WHY I reject that kind of thinking. It is WHY I refuse to buy into that bullshit. It's un-American to berate someone else's opinion. It's saying "You are not allowed to think that way!"

The thought police are alive and well in both Conservative and Liberal America!

It's American to try to persuade people to think otherwise without resorting to cheap shots like calling them bigots or idiots (the present Presidential Administration is an exception - they are idiots and totally bigoted against the poor and underpriviledged of THIS country).

If I say I agree with ANY side on ANY issue, someone is bound to call me a bigot or jerk for thinking so.

Tough shit! Calling people who disagree with you stupid or idiots only reflects on your own limitations.

I welcome all opinions. Do you? I have no real prejudice, but those who scream the loudest that I do seem to have a personal stake in this issue - so I forgive them for their closed-mindeness... to a point. At some point that thinking BECOMES the problem. It solves nothing.

What I am politically is a realist. I am not a bleeding heart. Nor am I a religious righty.

This is what I see is wrong with this entire picture - wrong with this arguement:

Too many people deny their own wrong doing. They are NEVER wrong on political issues, NOR do they take the time to dissect the other side's reasoning. They are, in a word, Close-minded.

Sorry, but for me to grant ANYONE absolution, whatever their color, religion, sexual persuasion, country of origin - or whatever - I have to believe that they took the time to seriously consider the REALITY of what is going on RIGHT NOW, not in the past, when the world - and this country - were in a different space. They have to have taken the time to consider the other side, not just deny it.

The truth is only out there if you seek it with an open mind.

Understand this, dissenters of my opinions:

We are ALL in this together, and for me to see things YOUR way you must first take the time and effort to understand what it is you are objecting to in what I believe... and WHY I believe it, because it is not, despite what you would like to believe (because that's too damn convienent) prejudice or bigotry or greed or anything other than a sense of realistic self-preservation as I SEE IT.

I refuse to give the right to others like YOU to stomp me and my beliefs into the ground. I only grant you the right to disagree and to tell me why.

Listen up! This is who I am: I am a survivor of childhood abuse, adult physical and mental abuse, cancer, poverty, divorce, sexism, and a life lived far out there on the edge - much of it spent defending women, non-whites, alternative lifestyles and the like against the very thinking that I am objecting to right now!

It's what got me to write this blog in the first place!

You liberals who judge me as a bigot, and you conservatives who "pity" me for my thinking and think that I am misguided, the same goes out to both sides... tough shit!!!

HOW can two completely opposite sides look at the same thing and see it as wrong?

Could it be that they have a hatred of balance? Do they both despise the middle?

Well, guess what? I'm a LIBRA and I strive for balance. I strive to see both sides and to bring them together in the middle.

I am also a realist who remembers the past that I do not have any intention of repeating if it is within MY power!

Here is another thing I have learned:

Permissiveness AND strictness BOTH lead to ABUSE.

Give someone an inch they want a yard. It's human nature. It's capitalist thinking. It's what the illegal immigrants want - more and more and more. Can we blame them? No!

But damn, they should do what WE do when something is wrong with our country (or what we whimps SHOULD do, rather to say...) - change it at home, not go running off to some other country looking for pity! If "they" (illegals, as opposed to legals) don't stay home and change things from within (has courage died?) then someday they can expect the good ol' USA to be tryin' do it for them, as in Iraq and Afghanastan, fucking it all up because the locals were too chickenshit to do for themselves.

If something is wrong you have to be willing to put your body on the line and offer resistance. Illegals do not enlist in the military. Yet our citizens and LEGAL alien soldiers are expected to die to protect their right to be here illegally??? That's fucked up!

Why should WE get the no-win role of Righter-Of-Wrongs (which the world seems to think of as "Bully of the World") when these countries of turmoil and poverty have perfectly good citizens who can lay their own lives on the line for what they believe in? How many ILLEGAL aliens do you know who physically protested the way things were in their home countries? Remember - being granted political asylum is different than being an illegal alien.

Face it, people - we cannot cure the world's ills, we are tired of putting our own young men and women in the line of fire for countries who later turn on us, and most of all, we cannot continue to accept millions and millions of illegal aliens year after year without it causing our own country to fall into chaos! As much as we would like to fantasize about being able to do that, it simply ain't the way the world works!!

At some point EVERYONE has to say NO, so why not let's do it now before we fall into that dreaded chaos!

Either that or maybe we should annex each and every country that sends their illegals here to suck off the declining wealth of this country.

Hell, we own Puerto Rico; why not Haiti and Mexico? Why not make them part of the USA, too? Makes as much sense to me as allowing them to annex US, and in an offhand way, ain't that exactly what's going down right now???

Canada's been sending their people here for decades to work , then they go home to spend their savings in retirement in their homeland, where they have socialized medicine. Not a bad scheme, right? Earn it here, take it there. At least they buy shit while they're living here, though. And by God, most Canadian immigrants are LEGALLY here!

What do you think illegals from Mexico are doing? They earn money here, spend very little to live, send the money they earn back to Mexico. Several Mexican illegals have personally told me this in the past year, laughing as they talked.

Them working here ain't helping this economy AT ALL, so don't you conservatives try to hand me that shit! Their income here supports their family at home until they can save enough money to come here illegally to be with their illegal immigrant families who are already here. Then the cycle repeats. Extended families. Friends of families. Friends of friends. We will soon have as many illegals who are Mexican citizens here as we do Americans. What then, oh big thinkers?

Not to mention all the other people sneaking through the porous borders. The ones I mentioned are merely those closest to our borders.

The "liberals" (just a label, not a lifestyle?) who condemn centrist thinking say people should look from the outside in. The "poor" illegals are only trying to make a living.

So why cant they get jobs at all the Outsourced factories we Americans let move to Mexico? I know plenty of people who would cut lawns in the USA if given the same grants that are awarded to non-citizens to start lawn businesses. Etc.

The global economy is upon us.

Hey Liberals, I thought you objected to the concept of a global economy and global-think corporations? Am I wrong? Yet, you are feeding it with your lax thinking. You are being manipulated by the corporations who know that you will allow cheap labor to infiltrate EVERYWHERE. They depend on you to succeed.

The "conservatives" (just a label, not a lifestyle?) say people should look at the larger picture. Yet, they miss the point. There are some of us who have no intention of allowing this world to become one big beehive with workers and drones and Queens/Kings (you get the picture? They think only the wealthy and/or powerful can lead because the power barons have proven themselves worthy of leadership as evidenced by their wealth). They are counting on the laxity of the liberals to succeed.

Here's what I say: I am ONE person. I am the center of my own circle. I can only look outward from where I stand, and I understand that everyone else is doing the same thing despite their proclamations of being able to do the opposite. You can no more walk inside MY skin than I can within yours. We can only look outside from within.

I have spent a lifetime observing and a lifetime on the front lines of the battle. I've earned the right to my own opinion. NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TELL ME I AM WRONG unless they have tried to understand WHERE I'm coming from.

I suggest you rid yourselves of your own prejudices before calling someone else a bigot.

What, you say?

That's right. You who call people bigots for wanting to limit immigration are prejudiced against people with opposing opinions! I oppose ILLEGAL immigration, you oppose me. What is the difference here?

I'm as poor as the next guy. I live on less than $11,000 a year for TWO people! This family includes a disabled person and a nearly disabled woman in a place where actual unemployment (as opposed to statistacal unemployment) is over 10%. I am the WORKING poor. How dare you say I should not have the opinion I have?

Because I want to limit immigration does NOT mean I am against any race or nationality. I am of mixed blood and proud of it. My friends are of all races, both sexes, all kinds of religions, and sexual proclivities. I've lived firmly on BOTH sides of the law and have considered ALL sides of all issues before I form an opinion but I am always open to being convinced otherwise.

Not so those of you who condemn others' opinions as outright wrong and call them idiots if they disagree with YOUR opinions. Clean your own house first!

I'm a free thinker. I am NOT a bleeding heart liberal or a staunch conservative. I don't have to BE you to understand you racially, religiously, or sexually.

I simply do not agree with open borders. Or the war in Iraq.

NOR do I agree with religious meddling into politics- it would seem that on the immigration front the Religious Right and the Bleeding Heart Left are one in the same. It's possible that you will both be the death of this country, and sometimes in my paranoia I think that maybe that is the goal of both sides.

Myself, I'm not so radical. I believe in the middle. I have MANY ideas, some of which I will now tell you about. They're things to consider, not necessarily to approve of or denegrate. Just ideas. From me, a woman with an opinion who is not afraid to express it. I, too, am a minority.

MY THINKING:

1. regardless of how we feel about Homeland Security, we should NOT be in Iraq, and should get the hell out as soon as we can. Unless WE are attacked, we should stay the hell home. We have enough bombs and missles to take out offenders, and that should be understood, but the trouble is, no one thinks we will use them so we have to meddle to avoid having to use them in order not to look like the bad boys "they" still think we are regardless of what we do. We should immediately rethink ALL foreign policy.

2. We are a nation of INVADERS, not just Immigrants. Lest we forget it, we are NOT the original inhabitants of this country. At some point it is only fair that we STOP this invasion so that the original inhabitants can continue to exist, and maybe - just maybe - retain some small amount of control over their destinies.

Let the native people decide if they want unchecked immigration, not all these newly self-important immigrants who only think of the needs of their own kinds. The only way to stop this insanity is to admit we do not belong here, and give rights over immigration back to the native inhabitants. A coalition of Native American Nations to control future Immigration. Now, there's a concept!!!

3. If the Laws governing LEGAL immigration are not working, it's because we are not enforcing them. We must enforce them or open our borders wide to all and anyone who wants to come here for any reason at anytime. Get a grip. See #2, above.

4. HERE is what I suggest in lieu of the Native American Coalition: We lock our borders to anyone without a LEGAL pass. We up the amount of legal passes given out to double what they are now, but ONLY with good solid reason for someone to come here, either as a tourist, student, or previously-hired worker (Note: I once considered immigrating to Canada - they have rules, too - every country does. READ about 'em!).

Anyone who overstays their visa goes home immediately if they do not take proper steps to legally extend the visa. Can't find em? Hunt them down and deport them if they are not willing to comply with the law.

5. I suggest that we cease to assist the global downtrodden for a period of 5 years. Instead we take that money and assist our own downtrodden, and do that by flowing money back into social programs, job creation here, etc. Outlaw further outsourcing. After 5 years we begin to help the rest of the world again, but only on an as-needed basis, not as a wholesale foreign policy.

6. We need to make laws limiting government official's travel to and from other countries. If other countries want our help they can come here. Instead of sending senators, congressmen and their staffs - at taxpayer's expense - we get our diplomatic staff who are already there to do some work for a change and get out to mingle with the locals with a video camera in order to assess what exactly is needed, and hold the diplomats responsible for false numbers. The diplomatic staff should also be forced to exist within a realistic budget. No more lavish parties!

7. We set a limit for resident aliens - and then divide it evenly amongst all the countries of the world. There will be no going over quota. If after 5 years certain countries fall below that quota for their country, the difference will be put into an "underrun pool" and divided amongst those who meet quota.

IN RETURN we should demand that an equal number of "resident alien" permits be given to us by those countries who are sending people here to live. That way people who do not like the way things are going here can go live in other countries until it gets better here... if they so wish. Or we can send the CIA or whomever. Just like they do.

One option here is that if a country underruns their quota, they may be able to SELL their numbers to countries who need more.

ALL immigrants must pass through a background screening to weed out common criminals and felons. All immigrants who commit a felony here should be sent back to their country of origin to serve their time, with a lifetime ban against re-entry.

8. Any president who cannot balance a budget and begin to cut deficits in the first 4 years should not be allowed to run for another 4, nor should his vice president. As well, certain domestic programs must not be allowed to suffer as a result of military budgets. For instance, Food Stamps, Energy Assistance, etc.

9. The government should set income limits for who can collect social security. If someone makes over $100,000 per year gross after retirement they should NOT be allowed to collect benefits. Married people can make $175,000. (Make a budget and live within it. Sell the mansion to someone still in the workforce. Retire to a nice cheap place in Arkansas or somewhere else - live like the rest of us do).

Medicare is something only people in need should receive. Instead of cutting funding, reform the damn medical community, starting at the source, limit lawsuits and lawsuit amounts and cap how much doctors can charge. Not quite socialized medicine, but almost. And force Insurance companies to cut profits.

10. Make non-profits non-profit! Limit their reach and their investments. Right now many people are not aware that a non-profit can MAKE tons of money - and keep it to pay those who run it liberal salaries - if they can afford to hire expensive grant-writers and public relations firms. Look at the Catholic Church. Or the Red Cross. Or any of the HUGE non-profit agencies out there.

I know. I've been on the Board of Directors of several small non-profits and have found out stuff that the larger non-profit CORPORATIONS don't want the public to know! Also, LIMIT severance packages for ALL corporate CEOs, including for-profit and not-for-profit.

Force all boards of directors of non-profits to include 20% of their voting members with family incomes under $25,000. Too many are out of touch with reality otherwise.

11. Cut the perks for retired gov't. officials. Not eliminate, but limit to a reasonable amount - let them pay for their own health insurance, too. Maybe they'll see what we're talking about.

12. Line item veto. Let them write better laws and stop sneaking shit past us.

13. Decriminalize marijuana. Use the money saved to buy the police kevlar vests.

14. Congress should set a budget for the presidency. It should be realistic. Every 12 years they may revise it. Presidential Administrations who overrun should have the amounts deducted from their own pockets. Make them personally responsible for the money spent. There should not be carte blanche for ANY branch of government.

15. The government should NOT be allowed to embark upon "fishing expeditions" into people's private lives. If you already have reason to expect wrongdoing, get a warrent, do the wiretap. To do blanket "netcasting" should be totally illegal and specifically written into the constitution so there can be no misinterpritations.

16. Bush and Cheney should BOTH be impeached for their disregard for and disrespect of 1)The law 2) The people 3) Dissent

Just so no one gets me wrong....

THE MBCBS DICTATOR

where's the DANGER at?

2006-02-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

warantless search and seizure of property and person
incarceration of indefinite term without trial
suspension of habeus corpus - the right to DEMAND the accused be presented, to ensure they are still alive, if for no other reason
the use of force or other questionable means to coerce confessions
denial of a public, jury trial in which to respond to accusations leveled by the state

Having failed in their first attempt at nation building by creating too weak a central government, the framers of the U.S. Constitution drafted a second attempt, devising a three-part solution that would accept as its fundamental design the tendency for any body of power to ultimately overreach its boundaries.

Despite the fact that what they came up with - the "Executive/Legislative/Judicial" troika that proved so optimally counterbalanced that it has served as the model for nations the world over, these abuses of power noted above so concerned some of them, that they inisted the first ten Constitutional ammendments, commonly referred to as the "Bill of Rights" be attached and considered part of the fundamental makeup of the newly born nation, or they would have no part.

Ironically, on this list are some of the very things our federal administration insists it must do: not to "terrorists", but to us - the American citizens they claim to be protecting - in order to protect us. So what - they have to burn down the village to make it safe?

How is it that:

when America was a pissant little nation that had just played two superpowers against each other to pull off the greatest coup in European colonial history (ultimately, half the North American continent, some of the most fertile, mineral rich land ever) with good reasons to fear reprisals,
when it had to have been confronting more stress and chaos than anything we face today, as a global superpower,
when the most of nations that would be it peers were monarchies or dictatorships, built upon slavery and colonial expansion, and thus would not have looked twice were America to have become such a nation,
when even the limited direct representation the Continental Congress had allowed was considered madness in many learned circles,

...that the fundamental rights of the citizen was nevertheless so central to the nation they were inventing, that to have denied it would have ended up in a civil war nearly a century before it finally happened? How is it that, when we look back at what was done to Japanese-Americans during World War II, that it must be admitted it was wrong, so wrong that reparations were paid -- and yet we are poised to do it again, only now with anyone that looks like an Arab?

What are we so scared of, folks? How much danger are you in, personally? Do you honestly fear that you will be blown up or killed by a terrorist -- or is it more likely that you might be killed by a drunk driver in your own neighborhood?

Why are so many of us willing to shred the bill of rights for protection against a threat that can't be named, identified, located or described -- because to do so would somehow aid the enemy and increase the likelihood of this supposed, unnamed, unknown, nondescript "threat"?

Why do you trust these madmen who have stolen our country from us, instead of your own senses? I mean, c'mon... ask yourselves just a few simple, common sense questions:

What is NORAD? The North American Aerospace Defense command. Their mission: to protect America from all airborne threats. What is the Pentagon? The seat of our nation's entire defense: supposedly the "most secure building in the world" The entire nation's capitol, in fact, is perhaps the most heavily defended airspace on earth - and with good reason.... So; why am I asked to believe that a single passenger airliner, hi-jacked by some guys with minimal training, hit this center of America's military -- and was not shot out of the sky???

What if that had been a missile? Or a nuke??? Is D.C. protected, or isn't it. FORGET 9/11, forget terrorism. Forget that you're scared mostly because the media and the government won't let up off telling you THAT you are.... answer the question. Why was ANYTHING, EVER allowed to hit the Pentagon??? Under any circumstances.

FUCK 9/11 -- that's headquarters for our entire nation's militiary, offices of the top commanders of all U.S. armed forces. They couldn't stop a plane from hitting it? But they can defend us from nukes? C'mon!?!?!?

How many of you out there know people who have been the victim of either drug abuse, drug related crimes, or the effects of drugs on a loved one? Anyone old enough to remember when cocaine was the drug of the rich? Remember how it suddenly became accessible as a street drug in the '80s... around the same time that the "war on drugs" kicked into full gear?

Ask yourself this simple question -- if it is indeed a "war" on drugs, then why haven't we simply taken out the problem at the source, and destroyed the damned coca fields? Is it a war, or is that just a bullshit metaphor to justify feeding bodies -- Amerian bodies, CITIZEN'S bodies -- to the prison-industrial complex?

If it's a war, then why isn't it being fought like one? We have the satellites; we know where all the coke is grown. We give a week's notice, we give longitude and latitude, and then it's "scorched earth" time. Anybody who's caught in the fields is a casualty of war -- and a warning to those at the next location to get the fuck out when we say we're gonna burn it....

So... what's the answer, folks? We can invade a nation that had nothing to do with the horror of September 11th, 2001 because we basically felt like it, making up excuse after excuse as we went along. But we can't eliminate a scourge on our society so supposedly destructive that it is the reason most of our citizens are even IN prisons: non-violent, drug-related offenses folks - look it up.

We talk war a lot, but it's only a metaphor. If you'll be honest about the "war on drugs" you'll have to admit that it's not a war against drugs, but a war against people, with drugs as the premise. We lock up more citizens, conduct more drug buying stings, put cops in schools and undercover in inner-city gangs, stiffen the penalties and limit the options available to offenders... everything accept attacking the problem at the source.

Because when America talks war, the noun preceding that verb is not the purpose, but the premise of that war. War on drugs uses drugs as its excuse, not its objective, else most of Central and South America would be parched and smoldering. It isn't that we don't have the means, or the method. It isn't even that we lack the resolve -- we have the finest military on the planet, and are quite good at doing war.

Think Iraq is about your safety? Then why is Bin Laden still alive... and why are we hearing about his audio taped threats, instead of being given a weblink to the site showing footage of the smart bomb that took him out??? Think it's because we can't?

America fights the wars it wants to. Consider that, the next time you think that war keeps you safe...

Illegals Sucking Up Food and Help Meant For Poor Citizens

2006-02-10T20:14:00.000-05:00

Hey

I worked today. For those of you who don't know, I work in a crisis ministry in N.C. that helps people below the poverty limit with food and utility bills. Our main source of funding is our Thrift Store. We also get government funding, donations from private citizens and churches.

In the past 6 months I have seen a major increase in the amount of Mexican illegals coming to us for help, and as a result, the amount we can help "legal" poor people with has been drastically cut. This has become depressing as hell for me and the people we work with when we watch what is going on. And mind you, the only problem we have with Mexican illegals is just that - they are illegal and they pay no tax, get paid in cash, and do not respect ANY of the laws of the United States or North Carolina!

Race is unimportant to us. I use the term Mexicans because that is the nationality of illegals that we here in Western North Carolina are dealing with. Other areas probably deal with other Nationalities, but we deal 99.9% with MEXICAN illegals.

Today a group of 6 Mexican immigrants came in and 5 of them were new arrivals to the area. Two of the women bought shirts and had the nerve to complain that one cost $1.00 and the other $1.15, and THEN they bitched about the tax.

To top it off, we were giving away free produce, two of each kind of veggie to a person (4 varieties today). One of the women filled up two bags and ran out of the store, and the other was plopping her 10th Butternut Squash into the bag when I stopped her and told her only dos (2) of each, not 10! She got pissy and left the store without any produce.

Now, we deal with actual starving people in our store, old people who don't eat much and who have to chop wood for heat or else freeze. People who lost jobs in the textile mills and furniture factories here when they moved TO Mexico. Those people have families, too.

HALF of our food and utility assistance goes to illegal Mexicans. There are at least 6 other food distribution points in this county of 15,000 people (where the median income is $21,000).

Unemployment is high here but of course, the statistics only count the ones receiving unemployment and does NOT count illegals at all. Here is what the Mexicans do (and the folks at our fellow food pantry- that deals almost exclusively with Mexicans - agree):

NOTE: There are a few exceptions to what I cite below, but not very many.

1. They live in apartments with 10 other people. The men work, the women have babies that become US citizens - thus they qualify for food stamps and welfare.

2. The men work on the Xmas tree farms, etc. for cheap wages because they live 10 to an apartment - This overcrowding into housing is illegal, but obviously they don't care because just being here is illegal and they know that no one is gonna do anything to stop it.

3. The men work and send their wages to Mexico and they come to places like where I work to support them because they have no money left. They make the rounds of all the free food and utility assistance programs. Once they send enough money to Mexico, their extended family arrives and the cycle starts again. In effect, we are paying for more to come here.

4. They do not get driver's licenses (except in rare cases), drive junk cars that are hazardous and do not insure them. They don't know the rules of the road. This past summer such a person - a woman - slammed head-on into a car carrying four senior citizens and killed 2, injured the others, and guess what? She, the illegal, not only had no license, insurance, or proper registration (they find cars broken down on the side of the road and steal the license plates) BUT ALSO no one deported her, put her in jail, or anything else. She just disappeared, and the family of the dead people were forced to pay the funeral expenses, take the monatary losses and not only that, they lost two family members!

5. They STEAL. Shoplifting, the aformentioned theft of license plates, they even break into dumpsters to steal IDENTITIES so they can apply for - and get - credit cards! They break into OUR dumpster to steal clothing we have discarded - not to wear, but to sell at flea markets so they can suppliment their incomes and send more to Mexico. Part of my job now is to cut the clothing we discard so they can't do that. They have destroyed 3 dumpsters of ours, and they litter the parking lot with the trash they throw out of it. They break into cars and trucks in our tiny lot.

REMEMBER, we're talking a county with 15,000 citizens and an average income under $22,000! Our poverty level is skyrocketing.

Now, the place where I work is also supported by funding from FEMA's emergency food and shelter program and several local churches. Guess what? We are not allowed to ask these Mexicans if they have "green cards", YET we must ask other people for their social security cards.

Get the drift? This WASHINGTON D.C. administration WANTS this to go on. So do the churches. I forget how many hundred million Bush wants to put into a program to help illegal aliens FIND WORK and HOUSING (not the same as the Guest Worker program) but it is more than $200,000,000. Meanwhile he wants to keep the tax cuts for the wealthy and make them permanent while cutting Medicare, medicaid, and Social Security. Right now there are programs run by the government NOT OPEN to citizens that support immigrants and ILLEGAL immigrants. Funding for small business, housing grants, etc. YOU and I cannot get this money. Yet our taxes pay for it.

I secretly think Bush's plan is to get the Mexicans to force down wages so that ALL Americans will be forced to lower their living standards. Then the rich can get richer.

I THINK the plan is to eventually ANNEX MEXICO in a non-hostile overthrow. I think he wants Mexico to be part of the United States. And with the new eminent domain laws, maybe he will take YOUR house to put up public housing for illegals ("guest workers"). Far-fetched or not, the possiblilites exist.

So what is the answer to dealing with the illegal immigrant population? Who is the most at fault? The church or the government?

Don't hand me this "I don't blame them for coming here crap." They have a perfect right to apply for and get visas. There ARE Mexicans who DO come here legally. They pay the taxes, they buy car insurance, and they are valuable members of the American work force and population.

We've exported thousands of businesses to Mexico that employ hundreds of thousands of Mexican Nationals, and Bush wants to open our borders to allow Mexicans to come here to take many of the remaining jobs that he says "American Citizens don't want." Tell that to those out-of-work textile workers and furniture factory workers!

Right now the South is being overrun by illegals, and we need a solution FAST! In THIS small county, it has become a near-crisis! Some of these families have lived here for 6 generations and for the first time, there is no work.

Poverty is alive and growing South of the Mason-Dixon line, and much of the money alloted to helping out is going to the Illegal Alien. That SUCKS. I've become a hard-liner on this subject after 3 years of seeing the problem in action.

What about YOU? Comments, please.

Breaking the "I"s...

2006-02-09T10:34:00.000-05:00

Okay... guess if falls upon me to kickstart this thang...

First, in the interest of "full disclosure" -- I'm the 'associate' that put the blogging bug up Suzi's... well, you get the point <>....

Yeah, yeah... I can hear y'all whining now:

"Blog? I hardly send email -- why do I have to blog??" Too much like a homework assignment, eh? Well lemme ask you this: how much is your freedom worth? The price of a six-pack? The time it takes to watch another bad TV show?

If you've been paying attention to the lunatics running the asylum in Tweedle-D.C., you'll realize that they not only don't give a damn about civil liberties, truth, freedom or honor, but actually hold these fundamental aspects of American freedom in contempt...

It has been said the you only have those rights you can enforce for yourself... this is no less true because of the technology and comfort modern society provides. In fact, as sovereign nations are violated in our name, the complacency of modern ameriKKKan's serves to guarantee that heinous acts like those of September 11th, 2001 will recur.

And then what? How many of you will be sheeple, cowed under by fear, herded like lambs to the slaughter? How many will be willing to stand up and fight for the freedom to live your lives unmolested, as long as you respect the rights of other sovereign human beings?

That's not a rhetorical question, folks: even now, the freaks who run the pResident are posturing towards Iran, ready to continue their mad crusade, destined to cast us hurtling toward WWIII. What, you say? That would be madness?

Your point? These folks know of the death and destruction that would bring... we've suffered nearly 2,500 fatalities in Iraq alone -- do they even blink? These chickenhawks have no problem sending generations of the "great unwashed" to their deaths... it gives them more land on which to build their estates...

Think I'm crazy? Well, perhaps... but I invite anyone out their to dispute my logic, or argue against my conclusions. Hell; I'll take an amen corner of "yay-sayers" -- anything, at this point, to indicate that it's more than a handful of throwbacks to the hippy era that still give a fuck.

We have a tremendous gift here, folks, in this l'il ol' blog of ours -- ad hoc democracy on demand. Free speech that they can't shut down unless they kick in our doors, and pull the switch on the entire Internet!!! So c'mon! it only takes a few minutes to throw down some thoughts on the screen and click "Publish Post"... this ain't a class -- this is your LIFE!!!

Live free or die, y'all: because life without freedom is death...

If you're in the mood for some hardcore political rants, check out my blog at http://www.whatdafuck.org/

Welcome MBCBSers!

2006-02-08T18:41:00.000-05:00

This is where our guest bloggers will be talking about all sorts of interesting things in the very near future. Please stay tuned.

Dictator For Life