IMMIGRATION - CUTTING OUR OWN THROATS

The Republicans and the extremists they pander to will be able to obtain one of their most treasured goals this mid-term election if the people affected do what they want - refuse to vote or, even worse, vote Republican. The people affected are Hispanic voters who have friends and family who are undocumented and the Tea Party's goal is to sink a knife deep into any chance of Immigration Reform (especially any kind that includes any form of amnesty) for at least twelve years. The timing of the Arizona Law was no accident. These extremists wanted something that would exponentially increase the Hispanics' disappointment with the Obama Administration, while the Republican Senators make it impossible for Obama to do anything before the mid-term elections. If the Hispanic Community plays into the Republicans' plan - there will be no positive Immigration Reform for more than a decade.

I understand the desperation for positive Immigration Reform that allows the undocumented immigrants to stay in this country. It is something I want as well. I have too many friends that could be deported at any moment, I know too many children whose lives would change forever if their parents were to be deported. Because of this, I'm asking Hispanics to change their tactics to keep the best chance we have for just Immigration Reform alive.

I too am very disappointed that President Obama has yet to take up Immigration Reform, but we all must understand the reasons for the delay. Barak Obama took over the Presidency facing the greatest number of dangers to the country since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had to stabilize the financial system of the country and work closely with the leaders of many other countries to keep the world financial systems from collapsing - all the while knowing that these actions were nothing more than band aids and that much more work had to be done and still has to be done to keep this and future crises from wrecking the finances of the world. Moreover, he had to take action and ensure that the American Automobile Industry would not collapse - something that would have led to the highest loss of jobs in American History. He also had to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court as well as see to it that his nominees to fill all of the posts in his government be approved. He had to do all of this while the Republican Party was doing its best to keep him from doing anything - in complete disregard of the damage being done to the country, its institutions, and its people. Finally, he had to initiate healthcare reform by pushing industry as far as it would go for now and to likewise pass a comprehensive banking/financial services reform bill. It is not my intention to be an apologist for the Democrats or President Obama, I am just pointing out the challenges they had to face and why Immigration Reform has yet to be put on the legislative agenda.

The fight for true Immigration Reform will be unlike any of the fights this administration has faced and this is another reason healthcare and banking reforms had to come first. Achieving the kind of reform you and I want is likely to take up most of the President's time during the last two years of what I hope is his first term, even with super-majorities in the House and Senate. If the Democratic majority is reduced or, even worse, is lost - the President will not be able to achieve reform no matter how hard he tries. It is, therefore, essential that we do all we can to register every citizen and ensure that as many minority and young voters vote and vote Democratic.

There is something else we must do to help ensure Immigration Reform - when marching and during the meetings - we must speak and chant in English, all of the flags carried must be American, the colors worn must be red, white, and blue, and all of the signs must be in English. One of the major fears of those who are against immigration reform is that they will be forced to learn Spanish. It is therefore imperative that our efforts do not underscore those fears. Making the United States a multilingual nation is something we can do at a later date.

Finally, we must adopt a simple slogan that will appeal to a basic American value and that underscores the contributions of Hispanics. I suggest we use:

Immigration Reform Because:
We're Willing to Work

The slogan appeals directly to the "protestant work ethic" and it directly refutes a prejudice held by more whites than I can believe (the lie that Latinos are lazy welfare cases). We have to make these people see just how hard Hispanics work: Holding down two full-time jobs, picking and moving 4,000 pounds of tomatoes a day for $50, standing for almost 8 hours a day in a beef packing plant, etc. The instances demonstrating that Americans refuse to do this kind of work are to many to count. Aside from this, there is a final benefit in Immigration Reform that should be forcefully expressed by our press spokespersons*.

By allowing the Hispanics who are hear to stay and work, there will not be a Social Security or a Welfare crisis. The number of legal workers contributing to the Social Security system is declining while the number of recipients of Social Security and Medicare is growing. Accepting the the undocumented workers in the country as legal residents, this Social Security crunch will be avoided. Perhaps we should modify the proposed motto to:

Immigration Reform:
Because We're Willing to Work and
You'll be Able to Retire,
Your Social Security Benefits Intact

Our best chance for real Immigration Reform is now, with this President and Democratic super-majorities in the House and Senate. We must, therefore do everything we can to ensure that all minority and young voters get out and vote and vote Democratic.

*I wish I could say that this is my idea, but it is not. I saw it on the Internet. I want to credit the originator of the idea, but I have been unable to find the original reference.

Testicles - Bibletastic.com

Testicles - Bibletastic.com

Health care once again

I have spent most of my life in the pharmaceutical industry. I was responsible for my company's most important product line everywhere in the world with the exception of the US and Canada. I have dealt with the national health care systems in 45 countries and I can say that many of them (especially in the Scandinavian countries and in France and Germany) are very superior to health care in the US (just look at life-expectancy, quality of life, and infant survival data). If we do not change the way we handle health care, we will be unable to compete with the rest of the world because more and more money will pour down the black hole hole we call the "American Health Care System" (as if there is a system).. The per capita expenditures on health care in France and Germany is half ours and we do not even have universal coverage. In addition, their systems are better than ours in almost every metric you want to examine (especially so when it comes to patient satisfaction and new born life expectancy).

If you are interested in the facts concerning the proposed health care system and not the lies and exaggerations of the tartigrade twit know-nothings, please review the following 8 points and examine the information contained in the administration's website by clicking the link at the bottom of this post:

8 ways reform provides security and stability to those with or without coverage

1. Ends Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.
2. Ends Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays: Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.
3. Ends Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care: Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
4. Ends Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill: Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.
5. Ends Gender Discrimination: Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.
6. Ends Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage: Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.
7. Extends Coverage for Young Adults: Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.
8. Guarantees Insurance Renewal: Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

Learn more and get details: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/

Internet Search Techniques

Internet Search Techniques

This advice is very useful and I hope that you take the time to read it.

Time to Think

Today, I remembered having read something about the shortest event ever measured. I don't remember the event, but I remembered that it lasted 2 attoseconds. I knew that an attosecond was quite short. I thought that an attosecond was to a second as one second is to a million or maybe a billion years (although I really doubted the latter). I'm not sure why, but I looked it up today and found out that one attosecond is to one second as one second is to the time the universe has existed. How can one possibly live in "the moment" when discrete actions begin and end in such an infintesimally small amounts of time?

The Egyptians and Proclus may indeed have been right when they said that "god" was not to be found "out there somewhere", but in the eternal present the eternal now. "God" or whatever you want to call the Source of Being may indeed "exist" in all the way down outside the very bottom of time and bring all creation about with actions infinitely small and infinitely short. It's just a thought.

Mayberry

We all have images in our minds of bucolic small towns where everyone knows everyone else and all the people get along for the most part. A place where most are disposed to help anyone in the town in almost anyway they can. It does not matter whether it's Mayberry, Lake Wobegone, or the suburb of "The Wonder Years." These places are part of the American Identity and what makes these places such a persistent idea is that they exist and existed- not as perfect as the myth, but closer to it than one might imagine. These places are rapidly disappearing due to a number of factors and one of these is chrystal meth. According to Walter Kirn, writing in today's New York Times Book Review, Methland - The Death and Life of a Small American Town by Nick Reading gives the reader a very effective and engaging account of how, why, and by whom these towns are being destroyed. Reading also describes how meth is a symptom of the diseases destroying the towns - it is not the cause. Finally, he also shows how one town began a process of recovery that appears to be working. I have placed this book high on my reading lst and I hope you will do the same. The unending "Dateline", "60 Minutes", et al reports will not bring about the political action needed. The only thing that will lead to political action is us. Our leaders will not act until we force them to - with letters, emails, phone calls, demonstrations, etc. There are solutions out there and it is up to us to make the politicians find and adopt them.

Minds and Gods

Image via Wikipedia

This is a fantastic book that in the world I wish and even pray for everyone would be intensely interested in. The author, Todd Tremlin, demonstrates through cognitive science that various neural structures and programs that came about as a result of evolution function together to actually predispose us to believe in divine agents as long as these agents have a limited number of "unbelievable" attributes and that these "unbelievable" attributes are somehow acceptable. The book is a fascinating tour of the mind. One might expect that a book such as this would have as one of its messages that our cognitive predisposition to attribute phenomena to divine agents argues against the existance of such agents. However, Mr. Tremlin makes it very clear that this is not a conclusion with which he would agree. He does, though, make it very clear that an understanding of these predispositions is essential as they can create unconscious and subconscious assumptions about our God or gods with which our conscious mind would not agree. All-in-all, whether you are agnostic, athiestic, or very religious, this is a book that you should definitely read.