tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post7397804970239246363..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Amnesty SweepstakesKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-6817768332803215702014-11-17T11:29:40.593-05:002014-11-17T11:29:40.593-05:00“I believe in American exceptionalism with every f...“I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.” – Lame Duck, May 2014<br /><br />“We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” - C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man<br /><br />We are a nation in which children have become expendable.<br /><br />The number of homeless children in the U.S. is at an all-time high:<br /><br />http://new.homelesschildrenamerica.org/mediadocs/280.pdf<br /><br />"The world is a raft sailing through space with, potentially, plenty of provisions for everybody; the idea that we must all cooperate and see to it that everyone does his fair share of the work and gets his fair share of the provisions seems so blatantly obvious that one would say that no one could possibly fail to accept it unless he had some corrupt motive for clinging to the present system.” – George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier<br /><br />But of course! The mass migration of children over our open southern borders, not our growing income inequality gap, is the reason for this increase of homeless children. <br /><br />Politicians celebrate "family values," while making excuses for why America’s children are expendable.<br /><br />“How often the priest had heard the same confession -- Man was so limited: he hadn't even the ingenuity to invent a new vice: the animals knew as much. It was for this world that Christ had died: the more evil you saw and heard about you, the greater the glory lay around the death; it was too easy to die for what was good or beautiful, for home or children or civilization -- it needed a God to die for the half-hearted and the corrupt.” ― Graham Greene, The Power and the GloryDenis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-22362622798592350232014-11-17T08:03:00.325-05:002014-11-17T08:03:00.325-05:00“In this globalized world, we have fallen into glo...“In this globalized world, we have fallen into globalized indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: ‘It doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business!’ The globalization of indifference has taken from us the ability to weep!” - Pope Francis<br /><br />Why are there high fences and walls going up around the rich nations of the world in an age when globalization was supposed to tear barriers down?<br /><br />“Almost a quarter of a century after the Iron Curtain came down, the walls are going up again. In steel and concrete, with watchtowers and barbed wire, mankind is building separation barriers at a rate perhaps unequalled in history.”<br /><br />http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2013/nov/walls#intro<br /><br />Bigotry is not the result of ignorance so much as it is of fear. Many people are poorer today. When people feel they're being mistreated, they lash out against people who are weaker than themselves, immigrants for example. It is really ugly.<br /><br />Politicians pander to those fears. Washington is where sensible immigration bills go to die. Both the Democratic and Republican parties (those with “itching ears,” who “accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings” and who “turn away from listening to the truth” and “wander into myths”) are guilty of conveniently denying the human dignity of certain people when it suits them. <br /><br />“When the Supreme Court stated in 1893 that Congress had the absolute authority to expel Chinese migrants, that authority applied to all immigrants, at least in theory. In practice, however, immigration policy was much more forgiving toward unauthorized migrants from Europe. For a time, during the long civil rights era, Asians and Latinos were able to tap into that tradition. But that inclusionary impulse has since given way to exclusionary nativism, in which anxiety over migrant illegality has been arguably a proxy for racism against Latinos. But, in a twist of contemporary colorblindness, it also has become virtually impossible for all unauthorized migrants, regardless of national origin, to legalize their status. In a sense, Justice David Brewer’s dissent against arbitrary deportation in Fong Yue Ting, has come to pass: “It is true,” he wrote, that “this statute is directed only against the obnoxious Chinese, but, if the power exists, who shall say it will not be exercised tomorrow against other classes and other people?” – Mae M. Ngai, “Historically, America both legalized and deported migrants,” <br />http://bostonreview.net/forum/case-amnesty/historically-america-both-legalized-and-deported-migrants<br /><br />“Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,<br /> Our work contract's out and we have to move on;<br /> Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,<br /> They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.<br />Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards? <br /> Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit? <br /> To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil<br /> And be called by no name except "deportees"?<br /><br />- Woody Guthrie, "Deportee," http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Deportee.htmDenis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-52660549010784663572014-11-17T07:24:14.238-05:002014-11-17T07:24:14.238-05:00After having voted for the Lesser Evil two times a...After having voted for the Lesser Evil two times and having lived in his Presidency for six years, I've developed a general rule:<br /><br />Listen to the nice promises and plans President Obama talks about, but expect the actions and results to be nearly the opposite. Karen sketches out how this is likely to be the case with immigration.voice-in-wildernessnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-22509617820845587142014-11-16T22:15:06.729-05:002014-11-16T22:15:06.729-05:00You're probably all familiar with the classic ...You're probably all familiar with the classic Woody Guthrie song "Deportee". Altho written back in the days of the "bracero" program, its lyrics ring true today. Give it a listen, it's been covered by everybody from Judy Collins to Dolly Parton, from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen.4Runnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02582762546159637023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-51801944413715879362014-11-16T19:21:11.548-05:002014-11-16T19:21:11.548-05:00I will one up you in the cynicism department Karen...I will one up you in the cynicism department Karen. Two words: cannon fodder. <br /><br />Look for a special provision granting full citizenship and possibly a tax credit or exemption (and lifelong Democratic membership) in exchange for signing up for military service. Men, women, children, and the elderly welcome! The War Against ISIS is going to take decades after all, or the end of Empire, which ever comes first. annenigmanoreply@blogger.com