The Republican Party has chosen immigration as its method of suicide. All eight mourners will be found at a Tea Party rally in Wichita Falls, dehydrated and badly sunburned. Survivors will include the Conservative and the Libertarian parties.
To explain: the Arizona Senate has approved SB 1070, a state law which criminalizes undocumented immigration. There seems to be a better than likely possibility that Governor Jan Brewer will either sign the law or it will be left to become law without her signature. And then it will be open season on Latino residents of Arizona, particularly for Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
That will last about thirty days, until every legal mechanism in the state of Arizona pancakes. There will be video, probably of a particularly gratuitous violation of civil rights, upon an American citizen of Latin ancestry. The civil rights violation may be of a photogenic young woman.
In the short term, this is a disaster for the latino citizens of Arizona. In the long term, this is the calving of the Bigot Glacier from the Republican Party. It is not Montgomery on a cold December evening in 1955. This is very likely immigration reform’s Pettus Bridge, its Bloody Sunday.
The difference is that this is 2010. How many violations of civil rights will be captured on video-equipped cell phones? The first half-dozen will be on YouTube within 72 hours. Meanwhile, law enforcement resources will be concentrated upon this onerous enactment.
After a couple of hundred erroneous arrests of American citizens, the dockets of Arizona’s courts will clog like the arteries of a fried food enthusiast.
Note to Citizens and legal residents arrested erroneously: DEMAND JURY TRIALS! Nothing will gum up the works like jury trials. Nothing will work in favor of reform like a justice system full of fertilizer, either, particularly when greater infractions against humanity are going unpunished.
Every improper arrest deserves a big honking Federal lawsuit over civil rights, too. The symbol will be, again, a Citizen, female, preferably a young mother. Video will be involved. (Rule 1 again, this is 2010, fool, there is video everywhere.) Put the feds in the mix.
Arizona is bankrupt. They really cannot afford this kind of publicity. The sales tax is 12% in some places. The real estate market has collapsed. A law that has the potential to generate billions in lawsuits is not going to be a real incentive for businesses to locate in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Kingman or Yuma.
Businesses in Yuma could find it advantageous to relocate across the river in Winter Haven, California. In Phoenix’s dubious downtown, where newcomers frequently ask “where’s downtown?” only to be informed that they’re in it, office rental rates will plummet. Large national and international businesses are not going to hang around to pay for the enforcement end of this debacle. They may well find Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, or El Paso to be much more hospitable.
The stereotypical goat-roping, oversize pickup-driving, sunglasses on a cord-wearing middle-aged-frat-boy Tea Partier is ginning up to celebrate his pyrrhic victory. He will be elated about how “we sure stood up to bring about the rule of law in Arizona.”
Note to Tea Party Traitors: When did anything that y’all supported work out anywhere but in Tea Party Utopia? Do you really think you deserve the country back? The Bush administration turned a budget on a path to zero deficits by now into something like 14 trillion dollars of debt. Nah, screw that. Even when Democrats screw up, they manage to occasionally get something right. A 30% average is still better than nothing.
The crystal ball says that this is the beginning of the very shank of the Tea Party Movement. Most large companies who had an interest in financing Tea Party Rallies against Health Care Reform have no interest in financing rallies against comprehensive immigration reform. The short answer is quite easy: No large national business besides Fox News has an economic interest in enraging 15% of the population of the United States.
With the 15% of the population which is latino, count another 14% of the market which is African-American and sensitive to overt bigotry. Beyond that, about 45% of whites are disinclined to agree with any bigoted manifestation. In other words, any business backing an anti-immigration Tea Party Rally is going to alienate 65% or so of the population instantly.
Whether or not one likes the mentality of some businesspeople, they aren’t STUPID.
Timeline:
Any minute, SB 1070 will become law. Within 72 hours an obvious violation of Civil Rights will appear on YouTube. Within 2 weeks, The Obama Administration will back a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill. Within 24 hours of that, Hannity, Beck, and a few of the other Hitler Youth will proclaim a Tea Party on Fox News. Corporate backing will not exist, leaving the group an eclectic mix of white and whiter.
At thirty days, Comprehensive Immigration Reform will be on President Obama’s desk for his signature, a codicil of which will void all non-federal legislation regarding immigration restrictions. Republicans like Mitch (The Chinless Wonder) McConnell will be left to screech, showing racist tendencies.
Oh yeah, one other thing. The Latino vote can turn an election in several Senate races, particularly California, Illinois, Florida, New York, and Arizona.
Stay tuned. This may be a lot of fun for progressives in November.
23 April 2010
22 April 2010
FEEDBACK
A gentle reader has informed your Wandering Gentile that it is impossible to believe that A: President Obama is acting in the best interests of the United States of America, and B: That the nation is well on its way to losing constitutional protection.
Were this an anonymous individual lacking credibility as a reasonable human being, one's first response is to suggest- rather vehemently and sarcastically- that no further credence be given to Glenn Beck. This is the tack one chose when his meal was interrupted by a Tea Party enthusiast at a truck stop in Nebraska.
But the individual is a friend with whom I disagree. That makes things complicated.
President Obama could stand to be a bit more forceful and yield less on his policies. Indeed, some of his measures have been more Moderate than Progressive. This is to the President's political benefit. It is also frustrating, and sadly necessary.
To suggest that Obama does not have the best interests of the nation at heart is to buy into the belief that he is the puppet of a conspiracy to bring down the United States. After the Bush family's international entanglements (Prescott-Nazi Germany, George H. W.-China, George W.-Saudi Arabia), a more compelling argument could be made for their disinterest in the future of the United States.
What is most truthful is that any public figure has any number of associations which could be construed as harmful to the wefare of the nation in general. The time has come to compare actions as opposed to associations. Just because one knows someone, professionally or personally, is no guarantee that they share values or ideas. This leftover from the McCarthy era deserves a very loud, very public Viking funeral.
With regard to the protections of the United States Constitution, it somehow seems that President Obama, a scholar, lecturer, and professor of Constitutional law would be an ideal candidate for protecting them. The Bush administration was culpable for egregious abuses of the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth amendments.
We may not like the accused that the Constitution protects. We also may agree that they are guilty as hell before the trial. But if no protection existed under Bush, the same level of disregard can be countenanced under Obama. One has argued repeatedly that the key difference between Mohammed Atta and Timothy McVeigh is the alphabet used in the Holy texts that they carried.
No effort appears to be underway to deprive the right of trial and human decency to those for whom the teachings of Jesus Christ and violence against their fellow man can cohabit with utter tranquility.
With regard to health care reform, and the Constitutionality thereof, it has not been embraced as fulfilling the desires of the core of either political party. However, it is a positive step. One waits (with bated breath) for someone to point out any key differences with the plan signed into law by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. While there is no guarantee of health care in the Constitution, neither is there a guarantee of an organization reaping massive profits while denying care to those in need.
The interest which serves the greater welfare of the nation is curing sick citizens, not making a small number of executives a bit more wealthy.
Ultimately, we anticipate some sort of re-regulation of the financial services industry, immigration reform, and a new, young, progressive Supreme Court justice to take the place of the retiring Justice Stevens.
One hopes that no offense has been inferred. Some of the conservative speakers are compelling and entertaining. However, they are not acting so much in the interests of their audiences as they are those of the small number who sign their paychecks.
The behavior of President Obama is the same, but with a much larger number of people signing his check.
Were this an anonymous individual lacking credibility as a reasonable human being, one's first response is to suggest- rather vehemently and sarcastically- that no further credence be given to Glenn Beck. This is the tack one chose when his meal was interrupted by a Tea Party enthusiast at a truck stop in Nebraska.
But the individual is a friend with whom I disagree. That makes things complicated.
President Obama could stand to be a bit more forceful and yield less on his policies. Indeed, some of his measures have been more Moderate than Progressive. This is to the President's political benefit. It is also frustrating, and sadly necessary.
To suggest that Obama does not have the best interests of the nation at heart is to buy into the belief that he is the puppet of a conspiracy to bring down the United States. After the Bush family's international entanglements (Prescott-Nazi Germany, George H. W.-China, George W.-Saudi Arabia), a more compelling argument could be made for their disinterest in the future of the United States.
What is most truthful is that any public figure has any number of associations which could be construed as harmful to the wefare of the nation in general. The time has come to compare actions as opposed to associations. Just because one knows someone, professionally or personally, is no guarantee that they share values or ideas. This leftover from the McCarthy era deserves a very loud, very public Viking funeral.
With regard to the protections of the United States Constitution, it somehow seems that President Obama, a scholar, lecturer, and professor of Constitutional law would be an ideal candidate for protecting them. The Bush administration was culpable for egregious abuses of the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth amendments.
We may not like the accused that the Constitution protects. We also may agree that they are guilty as hell before the trial. But if no protection existed under Bush, the same level of disregard can be countenanced under Obama. One has argued repeatedly that the key difference between Mohammed Atta and Timothy McVeigh is the alphabet used in the Holy texts that they carried.
No effort appears to be underway to deprive the right of trial and human decency to those for whom the teachings of Jesus Christ and violence against their fellow man can cohabit with utter tranquility.
With regard to health care reform, and the Constitutionality thereof, it has not been embraced as fulfilling the desires of the core of either political party. However, it is a positive step. One waits (with bated breath) for someone to point out any key differences with the plan signed into law by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. While there is no guarantee of health care in the Constitution, neither is there a guarantee of an organization reaping massive profits while denying care to those in need.
The interest which serves the greater welfare of the nation is curing sick citizens, not making a small number of executives a bit more wealthy.
Ultimately, we anticipate some sort of re-regulation of the financial services industry, immigration reform, and a new, young, progressive Supreme Court justice to take the place of the retiring Justice Stevens.
One hopes that no offense has been inferred. Some of the conservative speakers are compelling and entertaining. However, they are not acting so much in the interests of their audiences as they are those of the small number who sign their paychecks.
The behavior of President Obama is the same, but with a much larger number of people signing his check.
10 April 2010
Penance. (Learn it, love it, live it.)
There comes a time when one must renounce evil. It is a key part of the prayers surrounding Roman Catholic baptisms. There is also a point where one is instructed to go and sin no more. This is one of the commands of the reconciliation sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church. These are points of faith which are non-negotiable for believers.
These are also points which should be non-negotiable for the Church, as well. In the case of the sexual abuse of children, there is no excuse. In the case of covering up clerical abusers, none can hide their face from an almighty and omnipotent God. When the Pope himself is complicit in the stonewalling authorities protecting the interests of abused children, the presumption of infallibility comes to a crashing halt.
This is not a point of indicting the Roman Catholic Church. This is a point of suggesting that the Church live up to the same standards it expects from its faithful. The Vatican is culpable in these abuse cases; they are also fundamentally responsible for reconciling with the wronged, the faithful, and God.
The fashionable thing among some circles of progressives is to belittle people of faith. That is tragic. Throughout history, great progressive change has come from places where the faithful and non-believers alike put aside their differences to achieve a common goal. Over the last thirty years, Conservatives have monopolized the positions of the publicly faithful.
Likewise, a conservative mindset of unaccountable behavior has pervaded the Catholic Church in America. The Church has lost the new connection it developed with the faithful it found after the Vatican Council of 1963. The daring outreach to welcome all into modern Catholicism seen under the early papacy of John Paul II has devolved into something resembling the church's medieval incarnation.
This is not a point where the Church holds the same kind of absolute power it held in 1020. If Roman Catholicism is going to survive, then the Vatican is in deep need of change. That can only come from the papacy itself.
The vow of celibacy is something which lives honestly within the vast majority of the Roman Catholic Clergy. But it is not something which is going to perpetuate the Catholic church. The pool of candidates for the priesthood begins limited.
When the candidate pool starts with the condition of foregoing a normal sexual relationship with a woman, it compounds the sins of those who get their pleasure from a position of power over their victims. Whatever the sins of Ted Haggard and Jimmy Swaggart were, they were committed with adults, people who were capable of choosing right and wrong. These were not acts of choice for the children and adolescents involved.
The huge majority of priests who fulfill their commitment to their vows are now obligated to carry the cross upon which the sins of a small number of clergymen will not be hung. It is wrong to protect and hide the sins of a few and ruin the reputation of the honorable. It is foul, and evil, and spectacularly un-Christlike.
A time will come when Rome will be forced to ask forgiveness of those who have been wronged. As John Paul II reached out to the other sects of Christendom, and took steps to reconcile with Judaism, a Pope may find a way to reconcile with the flock he has been called to shepherd.
It will not be an act of faith or goodwill coming from this Pope to atone for the evil committed in the name of the faith he heads. Atonement does not come from tacit support of those who violated children, nor the arrogant posturing which compares an outcry against the same evil to the greatest horrors against humanity. It just is not that kind of atmosphere.
Thankfully, there are places for those who love the Catholic liturgy, and retain their faith in Jesus Christ. It is a sign that a connection with God need not come at a cost of children's suffering to protect those who hurt them.
That is an objective which is worthy of the Saviour served.
02 April 2010
As the GOP Turns
It looks like the Elephant Party is getting a little bit nervous about their prospects. One feels a bit of schaudefreude while watching. One also suspects that he will get over it.
The first thing to remember is that the Republican Party will not be more popular at any point this year than they are right now. At the moment, this is their peak, and they're still hanging within a point or two of a fifty-fifty split on their best issues. This is not a bad sign: it is a harbinger of inevitable doom.
Things are not improving. There are a couple of hundred-hour cycle news stories going right now which look particularly bad, like the large sex club expense, the telephone porn line listed as a GOP donation number, and some not-so-behind the scenes infighting between different factions of the party. The Republicans are on the eve of self-destruction.
Problem number one: the most visible ideologues are quickly becoming irrelevant. Limbaugh is dismissed as an elderly pedophile with erectile dysfunction. Hannity is serving as apologist for domestic terrorists like Timothy McVeigh. Beck may be recalled to Planet Crying Psycho at any moment. The House Minority Whip, Boner Boehner has had a public meltdown on television. Policy is rapidly conforming to Sarah Palin, who does not work or play well with conservatives who are not radicalized.
Problem number two: radicalized conservatives are closing upon the date when they may abandon the Republican party. This is slowly moving toward probability. Some of the most worthy objectives of the Tea Party movement are being drowned out by factions which have co-opted to find a market for prejudiced, self defeating propaganda.
The disconnect will come. Laudable objectives like a balanced budget, and greater individual freedom will begin to conflict with those who would prefer dictatorial powers to enforce their vision of an orderly society. Participants who are sincere about libertarian principles will become disenchanted with factions espousing totalitarian authority in individual matters.
That notwithstanding, without an industry offering unlimited resources to provide venues and media coverage, the majority of tea party supporters will drift away. They may be gone as early as June, inflated participation numbers, Glenn Beck, and all.
Problem number three: President Obama won the game he was supposed to lose. Does anyone else remember the comment that Health Care Reform could be Obama's Waterloo? Well, it was closer to right than anyone thought...with the possible exception of President Obama. He knew his presidency was on the line. Republicans thought it was a game of chance.
Obama was playing a game of skill, say, chess. He won. Obama was also using his board, his pieces, and his rules. Barack Obama is extremely risk averse, and he really hates to lose. This makes him extremely dangerous as an opponent, and pretty much nearly impossible to beat.
Republicans could have been a bit more observant about the President's character. Instead of giving the President his Waterloo, the GOP may well have found theirs.
Watch the short term. President Obama will find a way to commandeer one key rhetorical point belonging to Republicans before the election. A possibility may be found in the post from 14 July, 2009 Cap and Death or Cake and Trade. If he takes the tax cut or national security ball from the Republicans, they can expect a long time out in the woods.
That would be called Checkmate. The President is unlikely to pussy-foot around in dealing with the Republicans in the near term.
Then watch for a screaming turn to the left on 21 January, 2013.
The first thing to remember is that the Republican Party will not be more popular at any point this year than they are right now. At the moment, this is their peak, and they're still hanging within a point or two of a fifty-fifty split on their best issues. This is not a bad sign: it is a harbinger of inevitable doom.
Things are not improving. There are a couple of hundred-hour cycle news stories going right now which look particularly bad, like the large sex club expense, the telephone porn line listed as a GOP donation number, and some not-so-behind the scenes infighting between different factions of the party. The Republicans are on the eve of self-destruction.
Problem number one: the most visible ideologues are quickly becoming irrelevant. Limbaugh is dismissed as an elderly pedophile with erectile dysfunction. Hannity is serving as apologist for domestic terrorists like Timothy McVeigh. Beck may be recalled to Planet Crying Psycho at any moment. The House Minority Whip, Boner Boehner has had a public meltdown on television. Policy is rapidly conforming to Sarah Palin, who does not work or play well with conservatives who are not radicalized.
Problem number two: radicalized conservatives are closing upon the date when they may abandon the Republican party. This is slowly moving toward probability. Some of the most worthy objectives of the Tea Party movement are being drowned out by factions which have co-opted to find a market for prejudiced, self defeating propaganda.
The disconnect will come. Laudable objectives like a balanced budget, and greater individual freedom will begin to conflict with those who would prefer dictatorial powers to enforce their vision of an orderly society. Participants who are sincere about libertarian principles will become disenchanted with factions espousing totalitarian authority in individual matters.
That notwithstanding, without an industry offering unlimited resources to provide venues and media coverage, the majority of tea party supporters will drift away. They may be gone as early as June, inflated participation numbers, Glenn Beck, and all.
Problem number three: President Obama won the game he was supposed to lose. Does anyone else remember the comment that Health Care Reform could be Obama's Waterloo? Well, it was closer to right than anyone thought...with the possible exception of President Obama. He knew his presidency was on the line. Republicans thought it was a game of chance.
Obama was playing a game of skill, say, chess. He won. Obama was also using his board, his pieces, and his rules. Barack Obama is extremely risk averse, and he really hates to lose. This makes him extremely dangerous as an opponent, and pretty much nearly impossible to beat.
Republicans could have been a bit more observant about the President's character. Instead of giving the President his Waterloo, the GOP may well have found theirs.
Watch the short term. President Obama will find a way to commandeer one key rhetorical point belonging to Republicans before the election. A possibility may be found in the post from 14 July, 2009 Cap and Death or Cake and Trade. If he takes the tax cut or national security ball from the Republicans, they can expect a long time out in the woods.
That would be called Checkmate. The President is unlikely to pussy-foot around in dealing with the Republicans in the near term.
Then watch for a screaming turn to the left on 21 January, 2013.
Hutaree Putaree
A great old comedy routine has the members of several fringe groups showing up to protest. The audience is eventually shown a few people protesting the same event, with each individual having a slightly different group name, and slightly differing ethos and objectives. By the end of the routine, the fractious protesters had devolved into fighting amongst themselves over the most trivial of differences.
(My recollection is that it is a Monty Python routine, but I have been wrong before.)
Artistic vision, meet reality.
When the Hutaree Militia story broke on Monday, one expected the worst stereotypes of rural whites of marginal educational attainment. One was not disappointed. Among the detained included an individual with a mullet hairstyle. The apparent headquarters was a primered manufactured home with appliances in the yard. There were nine members, and four were from the same household.
That gene pool is definitely a puddle.
We have entered into an era when the broader populace has been asked what the appropriate role of government is. The answer has been a grudging acknowledgement that there are times when the public sector can do a better job of serving the public than a profit-motivated private sector.
This does not serve certain interests, as they will be obligated to take a pay cut from a killing to a living. The objective then becomes the discovery of individuals willing to act opposing their own best interests.
There are groups who are under the illusion that not only their lifestyle (such as it may be) is threatened, but their very survival is endangered as well. This has to be stressful. The group's nominal affiliation is not as important as the commonality in the methodry.
The group requires poor educational attainment among the leadership. Critical thinking is detrimental to indoctrination. It does not take a fifth grade education to see that there may be some holes in the following:
"We are going to take out some police officers and their families, develop a fortress in four Michigan counties and fight off the Antichrist and the New World Order."
I hate to break this to y'all, but I think you're going to need a bigger boat, and more than nine members. Has someone smoked himself stupid?
There is also little argument that there is a question of discipline in some of the fringe groups. Honestly, who can argue for group discipline when there are appliances in the yard??? And don't even get me started on mullets conforming to the dress code.
Fringe groups are convenient for those who are able to leverage individual dissatisfaction with poverty into rabid, virulent, violent manifestations. Other groups are taking opportunities, not a lack of educational accomplishment. A faceless colussus has ruined the individual. God is on His way back, and He ain't happy.
The main differnce between these mullet-and-camouflage Americans and the Islamists who destroyed the Twin Towers is limited to language and form of worship. Both rejoice at the loss of innocent life; both have chosen the United States as sworn enemy; both draw from the poorest, least educated and most vulnerable populations of their respective societies.
Small terror cells are useful to certain interests. The chaos wrought can be of practical use to artificially inflate the prices of commodities and services. The violence can be used to suppress moderation. They are cheap, effective, and fundamentally expendable.
One looks forward to the Hutaree detainments being the start of a strong program to impede the greatest terrorist threat facing the peaceful people of the United States of America: Right-wing white anti-government Christians.
Oh yeah, how's that profiling stuff working for ya?
(My recollection is that it is a Monty Python routine, but I have been wrong before.)
Artistic vision, meet reality.
When the Hutaree Militia story broke on Monday, one expected the worst stereotypes of rural whites of marginal educational attainment. One was not disappointed. Among the detained included an individual with a mullet hairstyle. The apparent headquarters was a primered manufactured home with appliances in the yard. There were nine members, and four were from the same household.
That gene pool is definitely a puddle.
We have entered into an era when the broader populace has been asked what the appropriate role of government is. The answer has been a grudging acknowledgement that there are times when the public sector can do a better job of serving the public than a profit-motivated private sector.
This does not serve certain interests, as they will be obligated to take a pay cut from a killing to a living. The objective then becomes the discovery of individuals willing to act opposing their own best interests.
There are groups who are under the illusion that not only their lifestyle (such as it may be) is threatened, but their very survival is endangered as well. This has to be stressful. The group's nominal affiliation is not as important as the commonality in the methodry.
The group requires poor educational attainment among the leadership. Critical thinking is detrimental to indoctrination. It does not take a fifth grade education to see that there may be some holes in the following:
"We are going to take out some police officers and their families, develop a fortress in four Michigan counties and fight off the Antichrist and the New World Order."
I hate to break this to y'all, but I think you're going to need a bigger boat, and more than nine members. Has someone smoked himself stupid?
There is also little argument that there is a question of discipline in some of the fringe groups. Honestly, who can argue for group discipline when there are appliances in the yard??? And don't even get me started on mullets conforming to the dress code.
Fringe groups are convenient for those who are able to leverage individual dissatisfaction with poverty into rabid, virulent, violent manifestations. Other groups are taking opportunities, not a lack of educational accomplishment. A faceless colussus has ruined the individual. God is on His way back, and He ain't happy.
The main differnce between these mullet-and-camouflage Americans and the Islamists who destroyed the Twin Towers is limited to language and form of worship. Both rejoice at the loss of innocent life; both have chosen the United States as sworn enemy; both draw from the poorest, least educated and most vulnerable populations of their respective societies.
Small terror cells are useful to certain interests. The chaos wrought can be of practical use to artificially inflate the prices of commodities and services. The violence can be used to suppress moderation. They are cheap, effective, and fundamentally expendable.
One looks forward to the Hutaree detainments being the start of a strong program to impede the greatest terrorist threat facing the peaceful people of the United States of America: Right-wing white anti-government Christians.
Oh yeah, how's that profiling stuff working for ya?
01 April 2010
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