Define “Illegal” For Me
I usually leave local and state politics to my friend Jim (RSS Binghamton), who is way smarter than I am when it comes to such things, but when I saw the local Press and Some Bullinit this morning, I had to remark.
The headline and first paragraph read as follows:
Immigrants hold many of upstate’s top jobs
“In the wake of a heated controversy about whether illegal immigrants should be issued driver’s licenses, a new report shows that many of the most prestigious professionals in upstate New York are immigrants – including more than a third of all doctors.”
The drivel continues throughout the piece, where we hear from groups (who actually supported Spitzer’s idea) that “People have misinformed opinions about immigrants…The public did not have the information about the real impact of immigration and how integrated immigrants are.”
FOR THE LAST TIME… THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN “IMMIGRANT” and an “ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT.”
We all know it, especially here in “Which Way E.J.?” land.
Immigrants built this county. Legal immigrants. An immigrant is one of my closest friends. A legal immigrant from the Ukraine. An immigrant is my son’s doctor. A legal immigrant from Pakistan. An immigrant is my lawyer. A legal immigrant from Germany. An immigrant taught my history course in college. A legal immigrant from India.
As a matter of fact…to even mention the two in the same sentence is an absolute INSULT to all those people who came to America and went through the Immigration and Naturalization system to become Americans. How can you even compare them?
I cannot believe there was for one second anyone in Upstate New York who suddenly looked at their doctor, or professor, or colleague, or neighbor and thought venomously…”I bet they’re one of them Immigrants!” No, we are all very aware of the difference between “legal” and “illegal” and we were not confused in any way about why we didn’t like the idea of giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses.
Mark my words, this is Spitzer and crew creating news in an effort to keep this issue alive. They have not given up, and they are trying to bring legal immigrants into the fold to drum up support again for illegals. I hope that every immigrant that ever stepped onto American soil legally stands up and tells Elliot and friends to “kiss their red, white, and blue ass.”
Maybe a Beating IS Called For
Leonard Pitts commentary this week on Megan Meier and the cruel joke that caused her to commit suicide got me to thinking…especially when he said the following about the perpetrators (the parents of an ex-friend of Megan’s) “So no, I don’t want these folks hurt, I want them healthy. I want them long-lived. And I want them to be reminded, every day of their long healthy lives, what a great joke they pulled.”
Actually, I think that maybe a beating is called for in this situation.
I think someone should take Curt and Lori Drew down to the local square and beat the holy friggin snot out of both of them in front of the entire town. It should be broadcast on TV, radio, YouTube, and anywhere else you can think of. I want their screams of agony and pleas for mercy on I-Pods worldwide. Then, I wonder if anyone else with such a bright idea would think twice about doing something so cruel, yet so legal…
Remember when that American shithead in Singapore got in trouble and was “caned” for vandalism? What was the first thing you thought? “Damn! Don’t be pulling shit in Singapore! They’ll whip your ass!”
Remember when people here in America called the punishment and the authorities in Singapore doling it out “barbaric?” Hmmm. I wonder if the same term should be used for the actions of Curt and Lori Drew of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri? Then again, even barbarians have some sense of pride and fair play. You kill and conquer…no need to humiliate young children in the process.
I want retribution for Megan Meier. I want these people to suffer some real pain; not just Leonard Pitts ethereal fussy-pussy eternal emotional pain. I want scars as reminders… The Drews will disappear and live their lives somewhere else as soon as our ADD society forgets about Megan Meier (which I figure will be sometime on Tuesday). Unless we take the Drews to the woodshed, so people will always remember.
Cause you never forgot that kid in Singapore, did you?
Nature of Nature 2 Redux
Last Nature post got me thinking about extinction theories. So I looked some up.
It was too hot. It was too cold. It was too dark. It was too light. There wasn’t enough oxygen. The earth got hit upside the head by the biggest dang rock you ever saw. Them darn varmint mammals ate all the eggs. Noah weren’t letting them damned velociraptors on his ark.
The theories for the mass extinction of dinosaurs are many, and the latest to be espoused is (of course) tied to global warming events from 250 million years. That aside, something is starting to really bug me.
How in the hell can we know anything about 250 million years ago? I think it is absolute poo to think that we understand anything that has happened in the last 10,000 years to the earth. Hell, even the “short by comparison” history of America can be questioned as to its veracity.
To express my feelings on the belief that we can understand what happened 250 millions years ago I will steal a line from Jeff Goldblum in the “edited for content” Jurassic Park, “Now that’s a BIG pile of poo.”
We as a species are only a couple millenia removed from trying to bring down a mammoth with rocks, grunts, and bad hygiene. Certainly, avoiding becoming mammoth toe jam by creating the spear or designing languages for communication are vaunted tasks and successes we should be proud of. BUT, to think that in this short time we have unraveled mysteries that predate our existence is the height of mammalian chauvinism.
Sure, a lot of science I don’t understand goes into all of the theories of life before the dawn of man. And, I know that we want to learn as much as possible so it doesn’t get too hot, too cold, too dark, too light, etcetera etcetera. I guess the thing that really bothers me is that theories are no longer just that. They are espoused as answers, and they are not.
According to Merriam and Webster (exceptionally fine fellows) a theory is defined as: “a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena.” Well…anything can be plausible.
Who woulda thunk 10 years ago Al Gore would have won an Academy Award and a Nobel Prize in the same year? SEE! ANYTHING IS PLAUSIBLE!!!
Each theory that I looked up tended to denounce the others. They like using statements like “it seems unlikely,” or “it is then difficult to explain why,” or “while this is entirely possible, it does not support.” I think that what seems to be missed by journalists and by the “great unwashed” as a whole is the fact that these are only theories. They are only “possible” answers, and we will never actually know the truth.
Want to Beat Wal-Mart? Do Something Remarkable…
Seth Godin is one of my favorite reads and recent events with a local fight over a new Wal-Mart has had me thinking about one of his catch phrases…How can small businesses beat Wal-Mart or for that matter, any local large store. Simple…”do something remarkable.”
So…how hard is remarkable? Well, let’s take a look at a couple things that drive consumers crazy about large stores and are easy for small stores.
1. Answer your friggin phone. I watched my wife spend four minutes yesterday talking to the automated menu at Sears trying to reach the service department. By the way, the automated teller does not seem to understand certain, um, “words.” Her frustration is common. Consumers like talking to people, even when they are in a bad mood and normally respond very well to human contact. Example: I used to run email campaigns where I put my name and telephone number for clients to call with questions/comments. Unheard of practice at the time…I had a guy call me, and once he realized he was actually talking to the guy who sent the email, he cussed me out pretty good for invading his privacy. But then, he said “I have a problem.” I was trying very hard to smile and be nice and asked him what I could do to help. “I really need what you are selling.” I was happy to sell it to him, but I also told him he didn’t get the discount for being so grumpy. I was kidding of course, but he actually agreed to it. So, a couple things to remember. Answer the phone. Be nice…But also understand that many of us aren’t used to talking to a human being on the phone, so be patient if we press buttons while you are talking.
2. Know your product. Sure, I go to Home Depot for some stuff cause its cheaper. But when it comes time to do something real around the house, I go to Kovarik’s Hardware because they actually know what the hell they are talking about. And they are friendly about it. They even smile when you say, well the guy down at Home Depot said, tenderly take you by the arm and lead you away from the Golden Calf and into the Promised Land.
3. Offer specials to “community members.” Let me give you a quick example. The local health food/supplement store has classes on cooking, good health, vitamins, and so on that they hold every week. Sure, they don’t get mega church numbers at these classes, but they get good numbers and people who appreciate the knowledge being passed down to them. The guy stocking the vitamin shelves at Wal-Mart can’t spell “Vitamin C” but knows “its the one with the oranges on it!” I don’t think the local health food store has that much to worry about. People who use their services know that the few extra dollars they will spend are worth it.
So, a couple things to think about. I really believe that most small stores can actually thrive in towns where Wal-Mart’s come a knockin. Some parts is hard. Some parts is not. But, why the hell would you be in business for yourself if you weren’t willing to do the hard parts?
Would love to hear other ideas!
The Nature of Nature
During the fires in California Jamie Lee Curtis actually made a good point on the environment… I normally have a problem with her type of activism, but she did make a fair statement when she said “we build our homes close to these areas of heavy brush…and we are surprised?”
Wish she had said that about Hurricane Katrina… “We built a city BELOW SEA LEVEL” and we are surprised that it flooded?
But anyway. I want to talk real quick about nature, and the absolutely ridiculous idea that we can somehow control it, or are absolutely responsible for everything that happens in nature. We have become even more arrogant as time goes by…and nature keeps trying to prove that it is in control, and we still don’t listen.
New Orleans just flooded after a rainstorm. Certainly, a very heavy rain, but guess what? The new pumping system DIDN’T WORK. It could not handle the load. How long before we see New Orleans get tagged again? My money is on less than 5 years. But, of course, activists will throw up their hands and say “the weather is the fault of man!” Or, as we heard during the Katrina situation…”It’s George Bush’s fault the hurricanes are so severe! He doesn’t care about the environment!”
Look. I’m sorry… Here’s the situation. If you buy a trailer in Tornado Alley, expect to meet the Wizard. If you build a home on the Atlantic coast, expect to have it swamped. If you build a city below sea level, expect the sea to rise above its normal level at some point and put your city under water.
I could go on and on, and I will at some point soon with real examples. One quick for instance was the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. Did you know that one beach was left uncleaned as an experiment? I guess you could call it “the control.” Anyway, after seven years, it had made a full recovery and was actually thriving better than most of the other beaches that were “cleaned.” Guess why? We killed the microbial life (bottom of the food chain) on the beaches we cleaned with soap and water. On the control beach, life made its way back on its own.
Another quickie…If the theory of dinosaurs being wiped out by asteroid strike is true, how is it that life continued to thrive on this here planet? Wouldn’t it have caused destruction on a scale humans could NEVER replicate? Earth just keeps chugging along, despite our best efforts to screw it up, or fix it. And please…I do not condone much of what we do, but please let’s try to at least be a little less friggin crazy about it.
I’ll end with one of my favorite jokes, I think told by Jeff Foxworthy early in his career. “You know what a tornado and a redneck divorce have in common? Either way, someone is gonna lose a trailer.”
