So I'm a lil behind the 8-ball...but so what?
On my Myspace blog Monday I asked if anyone knew what Cinco de Mayo is all about. Before you say it, NO it's NOT the Mexican Independence Day. Sorry.
It's actually celebrating the Battle of Puebla, which happened on (you guessed it) May 5th, 1862. While we were slaughtering ourselves up and down the Eastern Seaboard, the French were trying to make the Mexican government pay its loan interest.
The battle itself was kinda a mistake. The Mexicans thought the French walking wounded were attackers in violation of a withdrawal agreement...the French thought the complaints about the walking wounded were a ploy to start fighting...and all hell broke loose.
4500 or so Mexican troops with 18 artillery rifles ended up smashing the occupation force of 6300 French troops and THEIR 18 guns. Not too shabby. Think about that the next time you start whining about bi-lingual signs.
Segue into an opinion piece. About how "immigration reform" is the new racism. It's not politically correct to say "I hate those damn Mexicans," but is IS ok to say "I hate those damn illegal immigrants." How our only hope is to bring immigrants in, embrace them, get them in the system.
But really, there's no convincing anyone on this issue. The key of a persuasive piece is to be able to actually persuade...and people are too passionately caught up in this. No one is thinking anymore.
So all I have to say is fix the system. I think having this many people want IN our country is a great thing, it's a strength. No one is running from our country yet. We're still the best place in the world to live. How about we harness that and put it to work instead of bitching about having to "Push 1 for English?"
And for all of you genuinely concerned with the illegals? Fix the system. Then you can deport them, and they won't have any reason to hop the fence. You have to fix the system and develop a way for immigrants to come in, work, pay taxes, and follow the law. Until we have that, there's still going to be 100 people trying to hop the fence for every 1 we can deport.
Fix the system. Embrace the heritage of immigration. Each of us came from somewhere else. Each of us trace back to illegal immigration. Just ask a Native American what they think of our pesky influx willing and able workers.
Wednesday
Gay Marriage Bans = Jim Crow
Let me tell you about a visit I made to the King Center in Atlanta several years ago. I remember being in a gallery of information on the civil rights movement (as you might expect, since we are talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr here) and stopping to read a list of Jim Crow laws complied from across the South.
(If you're not familiar with the term Jim Crow, then we need to have a chat with your local school superintendent. For right now though, I've found the Dictionary.com and Wikipedia entries on the subject. Long story short: Jim Crow laws were enacted post-reconstruction to help institutionalize segregation of black and white Americans. )
I remember reading this list, and at first there was nothing in there I hadn't seen before. The famous bus seating laws, separate water fountains, separate schools, poll taxes, literacy tests, obstacles to ownership, and so on. Then I hit a new one of the list: it was illegal for a white man to marry/date/have sexual relations with a black woman, or for a white woman to do any of the same with a black man.
That brought the Jim Crow laws home for me. Until that point, it was hard to identify with the laws and their victims in more than a theoretical way (I was a white kid raised in a small Massachusetts town...I had no reference point). But once I realized that 50 years ago I could go to jail because I was seen kissing a black girl? It dawned on me just how instrusive, how demeaning, how out-and-out wrong the codes were.
It opened my eyes. I realized in a flash no matter what you may think, discrimination against one group really is discrimination against us all. Pretty deep stuff for a 16 year old kid.
What's this got to do with gay marriage bans? Simple: banning gay marriage, and the hundreds of other ways gays are discriminated against, are the same sort of mindless, habitual discrimination as Jim Crow laws were. It's one group of people telling another group "You're not good enough to do what we do." It's just as wrong as making blacks drink from different water fountains, and just as ludicrous.
I was out of the state when the vote on the Ohio constitutional ammendment happened. I was disgusted to learn it passed; I thought the voters in Ohio were more advanced. The ammendment is a human rights violation that demeans us all. Like most human rights violations, I expect this one to work its way through the court system and become a piece of history in due time. Not soon enough, but it will happen. There's simply no rational reason for ever creating second class citizens.
But that doesn't change the fact we're still currently living in a Jim Crow-esque society. We're still creating and enforcing second class citizenship. It's sad how many people don't even realize it.
(If you're not familiar with the term Jim Crow, then we need to have a chat with your local school superintendent. For right now though, I've found the Dictionary.com and Wikipedia entries on the subject. Long story short: Jim Crow laws were enacted post-reconstruction to help institutionalize segregation of black and white Americans. )
I remember reading this list, and at first there was nothing in there I hadn't seen before. The famous bus seating laws, separate water fountains, separate schools, poll taxes, literacy tests, obstacles to ownership, and so on. Then I hit a new one of the list: it was illegal for a white man to marry/date/have sexual relations with a black woman, or for a white woman to do any of the same with a black man.
That brought the Jim Crow laws home for me. Until that point, it was hard to identify with the laws and their victims in more than a theoretical way (I was a white kid raised in a small Massachusetts town...I had no reference point). But once I realized that 50 years ago I could go to jail because I was seen kissing a black girl? It dawned on me just how instrusive, how demeaning, how out-and-out wrong the codes were.
It opened my eyes. I realized in a flash no matter what you may think, discrimination against one group really is discrimination against us all. Pretty deep stuff for a 16 year old kid.
What's this got to do with gay marriage bans? Simple: banning gay marriage, and the hundreds of other ways gays are discriminated against, are the same sort of mindless, habitual discrimination as Jim Crow laws were. It's one group of people telling another group "You're not good enough to do what we do." It's just as wrong as making blacks drink from different water fountains, and just as ludicrous.
I was out of the state when the vote on the Ohio constitutional ammendment happened. I was disgusted to learn it passed; I thought the voters in Ohio were more advanced. The ammendment is a human rights violation that demeans us all. Like most human rights violations, I expect this one to work its way through the court system and become a piece of history in due time. Not soon enough, but it will happen. There's simply no rational reason for ever creating second class citizens.
But that doesn't change the fact we're still currently living in a Jim Crow-esque society. We're still creating and enforcing second class citizenship. It's sad how many people don't even realize it.
Monday
Let's Talk Economics
I've never written a "content blog." My previous blog was about my life, so it was easy to write.
This one is more of a challenge, because I'm trying to be useful and entertaining on a subject perceived as dull. That's a tough call in this age of societal ADD. I had been posting links to news stories because I felt not enough people were up to date on events, and thought if they just saw the headline they'd go get informed.
Did that actually inform people? No...I don't think so. People have to want to click on a link, and the ones who want to already can do, from My Yahoo and iGoogle pages. That portion of my blog really wasn't accomplishing anything new or interesting, which runs contrary to my mission statement.
It also takes a lot of time to find those news stories and link to them. That's time I could be researching a topic to write a really great post about. And now that Blogger has come out with the option to schedule posts ahead of time (thank you BLOGGER!), I think the most efficient option is to write posts ahead of time. It's all about freeing up time and keeping options open.
So for now, we'll dispense with the news links...unless there are objections?
***
I was tipped to a story by my mother that I want to bring to everyone's attention. It ties in directly to politics, because the price of commodities (think oil, corn, wheat, gasoline) is a big political issue right now (think about the nonsense about suspending the gas tax--like that will actually solve anything).
MSN Money posted an article from Jim Jubak about the insane prices of oil (and other things) that actually defy the rules of supply and demand. This is due to the fact that consumers are so scared they won't be able to get what they need--gasoline is a perfect example--they are willing to pay any price as long as it keeps coming.
It doesn't matter that our oil reserves have actually gone up since last month. It doesn't matter that world usage is still 100,000 barrels LESS than what's being produced every day. The price of oil keeps going up because people are so afraid of not being able to get oil they're not thinking straight.
I'm oversimplyfing by a long shot, but that's why I linked you to Jubak's article on scarcity markets. It was a very frustrating thing to read, because it made me realize (again) just how inflated oil and food prices are right now.
Read the article, it's good food for thought. That's all I have today...this post is long enough.
This one is more of a challenge, because I'm trying to be useful and entertaining on a subject perceived as dull. That's a tough call in this age of societal ADD. I had been posting links to news stories because I felt not enough people were up to date on events, and thought if they just saw the headline they'd go get informed.
Did that actually inform people? No...I don't think so. People have to want to click on a link, and the ones who want to already can do, from My Yahoo and iGoogle pages. That portion of my blog really wasn't accomplishing anything new or interesting, which runs contrary to my mission statement.
It also takes a lot of time to find those news stories and link to them. That's time I could be researching a topic to write a really great post about. And now that Blogger has come out with the option to schedule posts ahead of time (thank you BLOGGER!), I think the most efficient option is to write posts ahead of time. It's all about freeing up time and keeping options open.
So for now, we'll dispense with the news links...unless there are objections?
***
I was tipped to a story by my mother that I want to bring to everyone's attention. It ties in directly to politics, because the price of commodities (think oil, corn, wheat, gasoline) is a big political issue right now (think about the nonsense about suspending the gas tax--like that will actually solve anything).
MSN Money posted an article from Jim Jubak about the insane prices of oil (and other things) that actually defy the rules of supply and demand. This is due to the fact that consumers are so scared they won't be able to get what they need--gasoline is a perfect example--they are willing to pay any price as long as it keeps coming.
It doesn't matter that our oil reserves have actually gone up since last month. It doesn't matter that world usage is still 100,000 barrels LESS than what's being produced every day. The price of oil keeps going up because people are so afraid of not being able to get oil they're not thinking straight.
I'm oversimplyfing by a long shot, but that's why I linked you to Jubak's article on scarcity markets. It was a very frustrating thing to read, because it made me realize (again) just how inflated oil and food prices are right now.
Read the article, it's good food for thought. That's all I have today...this post is long enough.
Saturday
My World News Returning Soon
So...I fail at this whole regular post thing. It's a process.
Life is far less crazy now, and things should be resuming shortly.
Life is far less crazy now, and things should be resuming shortly.
Monday
Earmarks and the Pork Barrel
My girlfriend recently asked me what earmarks were, in relation to pork barrelling. I was a little surprized that she didn't know. And I figured, "If someone as smart as her doesn't know, then...how many others don't?
What Is the Pork Barrel?
Wikipedia gets a lil smart with us, saying that it's a barrel you keep pork in. Luckily for those clowns, they go on to say it's more often a political metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for projects specifically designed to benefit a constituency or campaign contributor.
I like the Wikipedia article...it does a good job explaining it, and detailing it, and putting the term into context (really, not all appropriations are pork. Money spent on the I-35 bridge in the Twin Cities would have been money well spent, but that damned bridge in Alaska is totally pork).
Basically, it's when the Congressman from Columbus makes sure money in a Federal transportation bill gets funnelled to the Columbus Dept of Public Works, so they can replace all their signs. He does this so when election time comes around, he can say "Look, I got you money for new highway signs! I'm not useless!"
(I'm not implying that the Congressman from Columbus is useless, or that he does these things, or that he's even a man, necessarily. I know my end of Columbus has a Congressman, and he's been pretty responsible--if amazingly conservative).
What is an earmark?
Wikipedia is a lil complicated on this one, starting with the public finance definition. Long story short? It's when money is singled out for a project, or a specific exemption is made from a tax or fee. Earmarking is how pork happens, for the most part.
There's two types of earmarks: the hard type that's written into the legislation, and the soft type included in the reports of Congressional committees. Soft ones aren't binding, but in that "one hand washes the other" sort of way, they're acted on as if they were. Hard ones become law.
That's the basic pork barrel process! Not all earmarks are pork, and neither are all appropriations (remember, I-35 bridge needed money to be replaced or renovated = good earmark, useless $230 million bridge to replace a functioning ferry = pork).
The biggest issue is that earmarks are generally not handled out in the open. They don't get debated or defended...they just get passed. Anything you can't discuss on the floor of Congress probably doesn't need to have my money spent on it, is my opinion on pork.
...And Now for Some News...
Two-Prong Fed Move: Rate Cut & Bear Stearns Sale, from NPR
Terminator Has a Heart: California Lifers Getting Paroled, from NPR
Kosovo Violence Forces UN Out, from BBC
China Issues Deadline, Holds Protestors in Tibet, from BBC
Southside of Columbus to Get new Medicla Center, from WCBE
Cincinnati Snow-Removal Budget in the Red, from WVXU (All I gotta say is, Duh)
What Is the Pork Barrel?
Wikipedia gets a lil smart with us, saying that it's a barrel you keep pork in. Luckily for those clowns, they go on to say it's more often a political metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for projects specifically designed to benefit a constituency or campaign contributor.
I like the Wikipedia article...it does a good job explaining it, and detailing it, and putting the term into context (really, not all appropriations are pork. Money spent on the I-35 bridge in the Twin Cities would have been money well spent, but that damned bridge in Alaska is totally pork).
Basically, it's when the Congressman from Columbus makes sure money in a Federal transportation bill gets funnelled to the Columbus Dept of Public Works, so they can replace all their signs. He does this so when election time comes around, he can say "Look, I got you money for new highway signs! I'm not useless!"
(I'm not implying that the Congressman from Columbus is useless, or that he does these things, or that he's even a man, necessarily. I know my end of Columbus has a Congressman, and he's been pretty responsible--if amazingly conservative).
What is an earmark?
Wikipedia is a lil complicated on this one, starting with the public finance definition. Long story short? It's when money is singled out for a project, or a specific exemption is made from a tax or fee. Earmarking is how pork happens, for the most part.
There's two types of earmarks: the hard type that's written into the legislation, and the soft type included in the reports of Congressional committees. Soft ones aren't binding, but in that "one hand washes the other" sort of way, they're acted on as if they were. Hard ones become law.
That's the basic pork barrel process! Not all earmarks are pork, and neither are all appropriations (remember, I-35 bridge needed money to be replaced or renovated = good earmark, useless $230 million bridge to replace a functioning ferry = pork).
The biggest issue is that earmarks are generally not handled out in the open. They don't get debated or defended...they just get passed. Anything you can't discuss on the floor of Congress probably doesn't need to have my money spent on it, is my opinion on pork.
...And Now for Some News...
Two-Prong Fed Move: Rate Cut & Bear Stearns Sale, from NPR
Terminator Has a Heart: California Lifers Getting Paroled, from NPR
Kosovo Violence Forces UN Out, from BBC
China Issues Deadline, Holds Protestors in Tibet, from BBC
Southside of Columbus to Get new Medicla Center, from WCBE
Cincinnati Snow-Removal Budget in the Red, from WVXU (All I gotta say is, Duh)
Friday
A Closer Look at Obama
Now to look at Barack Obama. I'm currently very disappointed in Obama, since his campaign failed to act on my Myspace friend request. I gave them a lil over three weeks, and they muffed it. So it's cancelled. HA!
Education: Obama seems to have his head on straight when it comes to education. He talks about performance pay, better respect, a sense of urgency, and keeping life long education affordable. I can get behind all that.
Diplomacy: This is a good run down on Obama's foreign policy. Essentially, I see the opposite of the cowboy diplomacy going on here. Phrases like "learn from the past" and "understanding the non-Western world" give me hope.
Bipartisanship: Obama has been big on this issue. The biggest sign of it that I've seen is the fact his health care plan doesn't include a mandate (a horror to the right wing) except where children are concerned. That's a compromise position, and I think it's something we should admire.
War in Iraq: He didn't vote for the war, wanted to finish Afghanistan instead (what a novel concept!). He plans on having all but a token force out by 16 months into his administration, with only embassy protection and al-Qaeda hunters left (no permanent military presence). Check it out.
...And Now for Some News...
White House Unveils Plan for Credit Crisis, from NPR
Fire In Lhasa as a Result of Tibet Protests, from BBC
Blue Jackets Still in Playoff Running, from WCBE
Education: Obama seems to have his head on straight when it comes to education. He talks about performance pay, better respect, a sense of urgency, and keeping life long education affordable. I can get behind all that.
Diplomacy: This is a good run down on Obama's foreign policy. Essentially, I see the opposite of the cowboy diplomacy going on here. Phrases like "learn from the past" and "understanding the non-Western world" give me hope.
Bipartisanship: Obama has been big on this issue. The biggest sign of it that I've seen is the fact his health care plan doesn't include a mandate (a horror to the right wing) except where children are concerned. That's a compromise position, and I think it's something we should admire.
War in Iraq: He didn't vote for the war, wanted to finish Afghanistan instead (what a novel concept!). He plans on having all but a token force out by 16 months into his administration, with only embassy protection and al-Qaeda hunters left (no permanent military presence). Check it out.
...And Now for Some News...
White House Unveils Plan for Credit Crisis, from NPR
Fire In Lhasa as a Result of Tibet Protests, from BBC
Blue Jackets Still in Playoff Running, from WCBE
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