Arizona

Our southeastern neighbors have done it. They've decided to turn their entire police force into and immigration agency. If the governor signs this bill into law, what it will mean is no less than open season for crimes against immigrants. Undocumented workers, here trying to make a living and escape the drug violence in Mexico, will feel too intimidated to report any crimes to the authorities. As if a young woman who has just been raped doesn't have enough fear of reporting the crime, now she'll never do it, thinking that if she does, she'll just be sent back to Mexico where, in the nearby state of Chihuahua around 300 young women disappear every year. So where will they turn to for protection? I'm guessing to organized crime. I'm betting that drug cartels, the very people responsible for so much violence, will quickly enter the 'protection' racket and extort the poor for their 'services'. So, the drug runners will grow even more powerful. 
I've heard there all calls to boycott Arizona. I don't know what kind of shape such actions would take, but I'll definitely be looking into it. Huh, divestment from Arizona. It might really teach them if all the latinos, immigrants and citizens, just left the state.
Let's just hope the governor decides to veto the bill.

hannity

So I was watching a recent Daily Show last night and Jon was talking about how Obama wants to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in our arsenal. Then he showed a clip where Sean Hannity and Newt we stating glaring falsehoods about the details of the new START treaty. I guess this is nothing new, though the amazing starkness of their lies continues to shock me at times, but this morning I saw an older middle aged woman at the gym reading one of Hannities books and I thought to myself, how can one subject themselves to such mindless drivel? So I've resolved to read some of their books. Maybe one by Hannity, one by Beck, and I should probably throw in some Coulter. I don't know how far I'll get in this endeavor before I wretch and give up, but maybe I can learn a bit about their thinking. Oh and don't worry, there is no way in the world I'll be buying any of these books. Maybe I'll steal them, or get them from the library. But stealing seems the better option here.

Wow

So today president Obama signed it into law. I think there are still some little hurdles to be, well hurdled, but it looks like we finally got a bit of health care reform. It's not all that I was hoping for, but it's sure better than nothing.I just want to tell all the people who feel like the bill was rushed through to please shut up. We've been waiting for this for 50 years. Too bad FDR just didn't get it done properly back during the New Deal. Oh well. Still plenty of work to do. Maybe the best part is that now I can stop writing about this and get to an issue that I really care about. Palestine. Stay tuned.

this page

I haven't posted for a week or two and certainly no one has been stopping by to read this blog and I have to tell you that it's certainly no surprise. I mean, this stuff is pretty boring. All I write about is health care, used to be that all I ever cared about was foreign policy. The bush years sort of left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to that subject, especially since when you really look at the democratic positions, they're just about the same. America's sense of exceptionalism and its love affair with Israel continue no matter the administration. Health care was a place that I once, perhaps naively, felt that we could all come together. It's good for business, good for the middle class, rich people don't care (or shouldn't) what's the problem, right? Yeah, well that turned out to be illusory. Now I'm all for reconciliation. Just stuff the best bill possible (probably not very good) down the throats of the republicans and let the tea party wackos work themselves into such a frenzy that everyone will see them for who they are, ignorant, uneducated weirdos. I'm sure I'm being overly harsh. They must have some intelligent contributions to make,they're just overshadowed by such opportunists as Bachman and Palin who want nothing but power. I understand libertarianism, I just think its a bit of a utopia, i.e. unobtainable. Well, I'm rambling now so END POST.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/good_vs_bipartisan/?r_by=7864-2230382-LEau4Fx&rc=comment_paste

Here's an interesting petition that I decided to sign. I've been trying to be a little bit more centrist in my thinking and attitudes about politics (see my earlier post about how I think Obama should play the health care issue) but CREDO makes some good points. There's also this interesting piece by James Surowiecki where he describes how once we all agree that outrageous rate hikes and coverage denials for pre-existing conditions are wrong, health insurance ceases a good for-profit industry. Then we can decide between having a public instutution to administer health insurance, or, like Switzerland, make health insurance a non profit industry. If the later is a more acceptable solution to conservatives than the former, then I'm ready to embrace it. However, I think we have learned that having for profit companies administer health insurances is good for no one but shareholders and CEOs, and quite frankly, they can all go take a long walk off a short pier as far as I care. Everybody will still have jobs if health care is a non-profit industry, but their jobs will be to help people get the coverage they need at a price they can afford, rather than maximize their companies profits.

bi-partisanship

Well, I just read a headline on yahoo news stating that despite Obama's efforts at bi-partisanship, partisanship is alive and well. I think that the best thing that Obama and the Dems can do right now is to continue to try and be as bi-partisan as possible. Let's face it, they do not play well as the dominant party. They just split themselves up between liberals and blue dogs and kill any momentum that they gain in elections. Maybe they can be better as legislative mediators since they obvioulsy can't push any bills through on their own. The more they invite the republicans into the mix, them more the Republicans become responsible for governing. I can think of strong arguments against this course too, but they all seem like unobtainable ideals. They shouldn't have been unobtainable, but after watching the Dems squander a 60 vote majority, it's awfully hard to have faith in them to get anything done.

Those who deserve death

Ok, yesterday I mentioned my feelings on greed and today I came across this article about a man who is far more concerned with making money than he is with human life, and to an absolutely obscene extent. What an amazingly horrible or stupid person, or both I guess, they're not really mutually exclusive.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471187.stm

Read it and weep, or get really angry and snap at a co-worker like I did. It's your choice, though I recommend the former option.