It's That Day Again...

As shameful as it seems, I didn't stop to think about what happened on this day back in 2001 until just an hour ago.

Oddly enough, I had already written one check this morning and paid a visit to one of the local banks before I realized...it was that day.

One of those anniversaries good Americans like me aren't supposed to forget.

It's not that I don't recall what happened that morning seven years ago. I just don't think about it every moment of the day. And yes, if I had lost a loved one on that day, I wouldn't have the luxury of forgetting so easily.

And yet it is in the nature of Man that even the date of some of the biggest catastrophes end up forgotten. Not because we wish to forget them but because we can think of them only so long before sanity encourages us to move on to something else.

Anyway, I did finally remember without any reminder from the newspaper, the TV news, the radio or the Internet.

I hope that next year I can say the same thing.

(Repost)

Lauren Valle Almost Died for Their Sins

Oh, geez. I guess I should not be surprised by anything done by people who consider chair-throwing a legitimate form of political protest but the incident this past week in which protester Lauren Valle got thrown to the ground by Rand Paul supporters and then stomped in the head by one particularly loathsome individual kinda takes the cake.

Did they really believe the woman deserved that kind of treatment? Granted, I am old enough to remember Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, the woman who tried to kill President Gerald Ford back in the 1970s, but then I see no comparisons between a would-be political assassin like Ms. Fromme and a legitimate political protester like Ms. Valle any more than there should be any connection between the Oklahoma City bombing and the original Boston Tea Party. And should not the woman just have been held till the cops arrived if Paul's supporters truly believed she was that much of a legitimate threat? As it stands, it seems like the only thing Ms Valle had in mind was a political stunt that would embarrass Mr. Paul -- and last time I checked, that was not an act deserving of a citizen's arrest, much less a beating.

Ironically, I was just discussing the modern-day Tea party just a few weeks ago with my mother, a former Reagan Democrat who recently admitted to me that she did not care for either the Tea party or Sarah Palin. Of course, my mother's biggest concern back then was not seeing some protester get the stuffing knocked out of her but rather the potential for splitting the conservative vote in the 2012 elections. And indeed, if I were a more cynical person, I would be tempted to argue that the main reason Democratic politicos like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have not come down harder against the Tea party was their hopes for just such a split. After all, the more people who vote for Rand Paul or Sarah Palin as a way of getting back at Obama, the less people left to vote for whoever the GOP picks as their presidential candidate -- and the less likely a victory for anyone running against Obama.

So now the good people who support Rand Paul have given me yet another reason to vote against their party apart from family loyalty. Here's hoping that I do not get kicked in the head as well.

Niemöller Update

First they came for the illegals and I didn’t speak up because I was a citizen.

Then they came for the Muslims and I didn’t speak up because I was a Christian.

Then they came for the gun-owners and I didn’t speak up because I didn’t own a gun.

Then they came for the gays and I didn’t speak up because I was a heterosexual.

Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was pro-choice.

Then they came for me, and would you believe it? Not one of my friends or neighbors spoke up for me. Not one damn person. Geez, some people can be so blind...

Viva Sonia Maria Sotomayor


After seeing how often supporters of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez played the "let's support the guy because he's one of us" card with Hispanic Americans, I must admit I'm kinda wary of any Hispanic politico or politica seeking higher office.

And yet part of me wants to believe that Sonia Maria Sotomayer -- the Puerto Rican judge recently nominated by President Obama to replace retiring Supreme Court justice David Souter -- would make a great addition on the U.S. Supreme Court for reasons not related to her ethnicity.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Please don't prove me wrong, Dios...

Other People

It's only other people who have to worry about their kids being arrested.

About their kids being interrogated.

About their kids being beaten.

About their kids being tortured.

It's only other people who have to worry about all that stuff.

Of course, we're all other people to somebody...

The One Question That Will Be Never Asked during the Ongoing Guantanamo Controversy

How would you want your son treated if he was suspected of being a terrorist?

Thoughts on the New Administration

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Please don't screw up!

Things That I Have to Say

I don't normally comment a lot on political matters but I can't resist noting the following observations that seem astonishingly obvious to me but not -- alas -- to most people.

1. The U.S. Treasury is neither a bottomless piggy bank nor a magic coin purse. One can't perpetually take money out of it without eventually having to put something back in.

2. No matter what Obama does next year, a lot of people is going to be unhappy. And things aren't exactly helped by the way everyone seems to be clamoring for their share of the public purse. One female friend of mine is already discussing the size of the tax rebate she'll receive next year -- it apparently having not occurred to her that tax rebates aren't likely to be -- nor deserve to be -- a top priority of the Obama Administration.

3. As neat as it is to have a black president here in the US, I really doubt Obama is going to put an end to racism anymore than the fall of the Berlin Wall put an end to class issues. Indeed, the notion that most black Americans will shut up about racial issues after January 20 seems rather insulting.

4. One should have the decency to wait until the president-elect has taken office before criticizing his actions. Especially if said criticisms are going to be so painfully trivial. This doesn't mean that we should pretend Obama is perfect just because he won the last election. But such criticism tends to be taken more seriously when it addresses something a person has actually done and not something he's likely to do. And if you waste all your time criticizing Obama at a time when few of his actions have significant impact, you're not likely to be taken all that seriously when it comes time for you to make a serious accusation against the guy.

Excuse Me

Apparently it's no longer $700 billion American taxpayers will be paying to clean up the recent mortgage mess. It's 1.8 trillion.

But of course.

Because we Americans never like to do things the easy way.

I am so glad I don't have a mortgage right now. And I feel more than a little sorry for those folks who still do. Especially those who could barely afford their payments before this whole thing got started.

700 Billion?

700 billion? 700 billion? 700 billion? 700 billion? 700 billion? 700 billion?

And to think so many of my relatives were worried that the Democrats would be making them pay higher taxes. Sigh.

Pensamientos Acerca de Política (Thoughts About Politics)

Adventures in Profiling, Part One
Boulevard of Broken Promises
Classy Bumper Sticker of the Week
Excuse Me
Hooray for Profiling?
"I Have a Dream..."
"Immigration: It's a Complicated Subject"
It's That Day Again...
Lauren Valle Almost Died for Their Sins
Niemöller Update
Other People
Quotes of the Year 2007
700 Billion?
The One Question That Will Be Never Asked during the Ongoing Guantanamo Controversy
The Other Side of the Immigration Story
The Politics of Anger
Things That I Have to Say
Thoughts on the New Administration
Thoughts on the Tea Party Victories
What I've Learned Since Last Spring

It's That Day Again...

As shameful as it seems, I didn't stop to think about what happened on this day back in 2001 until just an hour ago.

Oddly enough, I had already written one check this morning and paid a visit to one of the local banks before I realized...it was that day.

One of those anniversaries good Americans like me aren't supposed to forget.

It's not that I don't recall what happened that morning seven years ago. I just don't think about it every moment of the day. And yes, if I had lost a loved one on that day, I wouldn't have the luxury of forgetting so easily.

And yet it is in the nature of Man that even the date of some of the biggest catastrophes end up forgotten. Not because we wish to forget them but because we can think of them only so long before sanity encourages us to move on to something else.

Anyway, I did finally remember without any reminder from the newspaper, the TV news, the radio or the Internet.

I hope that next year I can say the same thing.

Boulevard of Broken Promises

The hottest political controversy in Dallas right now involves the Dallas City Council's Trinity River committee's decision to disregard a survey it took for the renaming of a local street called Industrial Boulevard. The winning entry in said survey? César Chávez.

Some local politicos have tried to argue that the name César Chávez should be given to another local street called Ross Avenue instead. But there's something about the whole "consolation prize" aspect of that deal that doesn't seem quite right. After all, it was the Trinity River committee's decision to have a survey in the first place. And its decision to imply that whatever name won would be the name chosen. Going back on that decision now not only makes the Dallas City Council look bad, it makes the Dallas City Council look hispanophobic to boot.

Somehow I doubt we'd be experiencing the same controversy had the winner been Big Tex, Stephen F. Austin, or even Walker, Texas Ranger. But as I've noted before, there seems to be an inclination in our society to automatically associate anything Hispanic with inferiority. Which, given the fact that Hispanics are not the ones breaking any political promises in this controversy, seems quite ironic.

All Politics Is Loco

Parte I
Parte II
Parte III
Parte IV
Parte V
Parte VI
Parte VII
Parte VIII
Parte IX

2012 Is the New Y2K

An acquaintance of mine started discussing politics with me on Christmas evening and for some reason, became obsessed with the idea that everything was going to Hades around 2012.

His reasoning? The end of the world -- or at the very least, the Final Conflict -- was originally scheduled for the year 2000 on old Christian calendars but unfortunately, Western society has changed its calendar several times since then, so that what was supposed to occur during the year 2000 in the first century A.D. was really meant to happen in the year 2012 on the modern calendar.

Is he right? I don't pretend to know.

However, after hearing doomsday predicted quite often during my four-and-a-half decades of existence, I can't help but be skeptical. And when you consider all the predictions of dire disaster we've heard in the last few decades -- the manifold predictions of World War III during the Cold War era, the Y2K scare, the prediction by scientists that the planets of this solar system would tear themselves apart in 1986, etc. -- it's a wonder that more people don't have a bad case of apprehension fatigue.

One can hear only so many warnings about the end of the world before one starts giving such warnings the same treatment received by Aesop's “The Boy Who Cried 'Wolf.'”

Armageddon may indeed occur within our lifetime. And to my acquaintance's credit, he didn't insist that I spend much time fretting about that possibility. Unlike some prophets of doom I can mention, he was not interested in selling me something or gaining my political support.

But he did insist that I take the possibility seriously.

So I will.

As seriously as the other prophecies I've just mentioned.

For in the end, we are all mortal, and it no doubt seems more flattering to some to believe that the whole world will perish when we die than to believe that the world will go on without us.

Better Armageddon, it would seem, than oblivion.

Adventures in Profiling, Part One

I used to think I knew what Middle Eastern people looked like because:

1. I had read a lot about the Middle East.
2. I had gone to school with Iranian immigrants.
3. I had once worked with a Pakistani.
4. My family is rumored to have had Arabic ancestors.
5. A few of my relatives have Arabic features and one was even nicknamed “Arab Princess” by my late father.

So imagine my surprise last autumn when a friend introduced me to a redheaded guy who was the father of her daughter's baby and then casually admitted later on that the guy was Iraqi.

Given the amount of racial intermarriage in the Middle East, I shouldn't have been that surprised. But let's face it. Red hair is not exactly a physical feature commonly associated with Iraqis. And while I don't know the man's religious affiliation -- he could very well have been Muslim but he could have been Christian as well -- I could not help but wonder what would happen if our enemies abroad chose to recruit people who looked more like that redheaded guy than like a Muslim who had a more conventional type of appearance. After all, it's hardly reasonable to pretend that people fighting the USA pay no attention to the number of conservatives who urge our law enforcement agencies to only focus their terrorist fighting efforts on people who look Muslim. And to pretend they won't make an effort to foil our expectations by recruiting people who don't look like our idea of terrorists assumes that our enemies are stupid.

No doubt some of our foes have proved less than geniuses. But to assume that they all are that way is to assume that our enemies are stupid, and assuming stupidity on the part of the enemy has never been a smart move.

What I've Learned Since Last Spring

1. Illegal immigration is the most important issue facing this country.

2. Illegal immigration is the least important issue facing this country.

3. Illegal immigrants are the scum of the earth.

4. Illegal immigrants are the salt of the earth.

5. Illegal immigrants only take jobs Americans don't want.

6. Illegal immigrants only take jobs Americans can't afford to want.

7. The one thing we need is a big strong fence to keep them out.

8. The one thing we don't need is a big strong fence to keep them out.

9. Demographics are changing in Mexico's favor, and that's a bad thing.

10. Demographics are changing in Mexico's favor, and that's a good thing.

11. Mexican illegal immigrants aren't assimilating like other immigrants.

12. Mexican illegal immigrants are assimilating like other immigrants.

13. The last thing we need are more political demonstrations by people who shouldn't be in this country in the first place.

14. Yeah, but those rightwing talk show hosts are all citizens, so what you gonna do?

The Other Side of the Immigration Story

Just when the immigration issue is seeming so simple, it becomes more complicated.

But then only a fool would pretend it wasn't complicated to begin with...

Hooray For Profiling?

Most of the criminals I've met didn't look like criminals. Or at least the Hollywood version of criminals. For that matter, most of the drug users I've met didn't look like drug users. It would be nice to pretend that everyone who uses illegal drugs looks like Cheech or Chong but they don't. More often, they look like you or me.

The one murderer I ever met face to face didn't look like a murderer. Nor did he have the haunted expression one would associate with a person who committed such a dastardly crime.

So when I recently received one of those “hooray for profiling” E-mails from a beloved family member, I could not help but think, “I love this family member very much but any message that even hints that profiling on the basis of appearance is a good thing is -- well -- stupid. If for no other reason than it assumes that criminals are stupid.”

Yes, I understand the various reasons overworked law enforcement personnel would want to save time by concentrating on specific groups of people. And I have no problems with profiling on the basis of, say, suspicious behavior.

But appearance? Tell criminals that you're only looking for red-headed midgets and most smart criminals will ensure that the only criminals they use in the public eye aren't short redheads. Indeed, there have already been cases of Muslim terrorists employing would-be hijackers and “suicide” bombers who don't look like Muslims.

It would be nice to think that profiling works. But somehow I'd have more faith in that system if people weren't always recommending that we only profile groups that they don't happen to belong to. After all, it doesn't exactly take a lot of discipline to demand that sacrifices be made by someone other than yourself...

“Immigration--It's a Complicated Subject...”

At least, that's how one Hispanic co-worker put it.

And I must admit that I agree.

After all, I actually met a former illegal alien once. And I also met a Hispanic veteran of the US Army. Interesting enough, they were one and the same person. And somehow I doubt that was a rare example.

Of course, I can't help but wonder how many illegal aliens I know that I don't really know to be illegal aliens. After all, my late paternal grandfather was a migrant worker. My late father was a naturalized citizen whose first job involved helping his father pick cherries in northern Michigan. I'd like to believe that both he and my grandfather came over legally -- after all, my grandfather was supposedly involved with the bracero program -- but sometimes I wonder...

And that's one problem with the illegal alien debate. It's easy enough to go on about the faults and vices of “those” illegal aliens; after all, most of them aren't saints. But once you start dealing with them on an individual basis, the whole question of who or who isn't an illegal alien becomes more problematic.

And yet just sticking with the status quo doesn't seem like an adequate solution either. Every time I hear the same old cliché about illegal aliens only taking jobs that Americans don't want to do, I can't help but think about the black-owned janitorial service that gave me my first job back in the 1980s -- and what the people who own that service must think about the Walmart janitorial scandal a few years back. After all, janitorial work wasn't considered a “job Americans don't want to do” back in the 1980s. Why is it considered that way now? What happens to the Americans who used to do it? And how many Americans have quit doing it because they couldn't afford to compete with firms that employed illegal aliens?

And why don't those Hispanics who defend illegal aliens ever seem to consider the questions I just asked? Would we be as quick to defend illegal aliens if they were, say, Irish? Or Nigerian? And if not, why not?