NEWS FLASH: Mexicans and Gays are NOT ruining this country!

OK, so I’ve had it up to here (note hand raised above head) with this illegal aliens issue. The final straw was an email I received that had the following text superimposed over a picture of an American flag: “Why the hell do I have to press 1 to English?” Or something like that. The lack of logic and the blatant bigotry behind this email and others like it that I have received didn’t really shock me as much as piss me off. Of course, being me, I had to respond to this email: Uh, maybe because this company wants to make money. And maybe they realize that there are a lot of potential customers out there who don’t speak fluent English – even those who maybe learned enough English to actually become US citizens – and that would be better served by instructions in English. It’s basic business sense. Duh. Besides, even someone who learns enough English to become a US citizen would probably have issues comprehending the legalese in your typical credit card bill or cellular phone statement and might want someone to explain it to them in a language they could comprehend. Hell, I know some people born in this country who need help understanding this stuff. In English.

So everyone in the US should speak English? Sure, I think that, if you want to become a citizen, you need to learn some basic level of English. But emails like the one I mentioned above seem to indicate that everyone who comes to this country should have a high school understanding of the English language. And let me ask you this – do you watch sports? Do you like the Yankees? Would this intolerance extend to someone like Hideki Matsui? Should he have to go back to Japan because he doesn’t speak English? Or Ichiro Suzuki? What about all the basketball players and hockey players that don’t speak English? Should there be an exception for them? Do these same people who scream about people who speak Spanish protest against MLB, NHL and NBA teams? Do they boycott the games on TV and protest outside stadiums? Somehow I don’t think so.

No, this is about intolerance, plain and simple. Lazy-ass Americans who want to feel comfortable by having everyone around them look and sound the same. I think it’s great that people speak all different kinds of languages around me. It makes me want to learn those languages. I love the Spanish language. I’ve got in-laws and co-workers who speak Tagalog frequently, and I think it’s great. Sure, when I’m shopping, I want the store worker to be able to speak English and I get frustrated when they can’t. But that’s minor inconvenience. And someone who works for the government should have a high school understanding of the English language.

Here’s the thing that most of those who are bitching to me about illegal aliens haven’t figured out. Illegal aliens aren’t ruining this country. Neither are homosexuals. These issues are just fear tactics thrown out there by the fear-mongering corrupt Republicans in the Bush administration who are really the ones ruining this country - how many billions of dollars are missing in Iraq? And let’s not forget Enron, folks. There has not been any sudden increase in the flow of illegal aliens into this country in recent years. It’s been pretty steady. So why in 2006 is this an issue? Is there some overriding need to protect America from terrorists sneaking across the border? To some extent yes, but if it was such a big problem, why wasn’t Dubya doing something about it before this year? And, truth be told, the 9/11 hijackers didn’t sneak across the Mexican border. In fact, most people in this country illegally came here legally, with legitimate Visas, and then stayed longer than they were supposed to. So the border fence will have limited impact.

Again, homosexuals aren’t ruining this country. If the sanctity of marriage was so important to my Republican friends in Congress and in the Executive branch of government, why are they not taking aim at lenient divorce laws in most states that make it pretty easy to get a divorce? Where are the protests against California’s divorce laws that let you get divorced for something as simple as “irreconcilable differences?” If marriage is so important, than divorce shouldn’t be so easy. But no one in Congress is railing against divorce laws or proposing debate about that, or a Constitutional amendment prohibiting divorce.

If you are reading this and you think that illegal aliens and homosexuals are ruining this country, then you are an intolerant, ignorant person and you need to stop watching Fox News, put down the Washington Times, and pick up the New York Times or the Washington Post. Or else you should be taken out behind your barn or your double-wide and shot. We’ve got quite a large number of Spanish speaking people and homosexual people round about where I live and work in New York, and New York’s doing pretty damned well. Our economy is booming. And I don’t see anyone’s marriage failing because gay people date other gay people. Some of my good friends are homosexual, and I don’t feel like my marriage is threatened by them or by other homosexuals getting married in Massachusetts. What I do feel threatened by is a freakin’ HUGE national deficit, an equally freakin’ HUGE trade deficit, and incompetent military leadership inciting radical Muslims to attack us. And I work in Manhattan, where we’ve been attacked twice by Osama’s buds, not Kansas or Oklahoma.

These are the things what worry me. I don’t need Congress debating a freakin’ amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman. I need Congress debating how to end the war in Iraq, how to balance our budget so that my kids don’t have to pay for this Administration’s bullshit tax cuts for the rich while spending goes through the roof. Those are real issues.

U.S. Wants Companies to Keep Web Usage Records - New York Times

U.S. Wants Companies to Keep Web Usage Records - New York Times

Um...if they're already collecting our phone records without a warrant, they're probably already collecting email and web sites we visit without a permit also. And it wouldn't matter, even if they get the legislation they are seeking, because they don't seem to feel they are bound by the law anyway! And notice that they'll use 9/11 to sell their position, but the article mentions that they'll use this information for all types of other crimes. Big Brother keeps growing bigger!

U.S. Wants Companies to Keep Web Usage Records - New York Times

U.S. Wants Companies to Keep Web Usage Records - New York Times

Um...if they're already collecting our phone records without a warrant, they're probably already collecting email and web sites we visit without a permit also. And it wouldn't matter, even if they get the legislation they are seeking, because they don't seem to feel they are bound by the law anyway! And notice that they'll use 9/11 to sell their position, but the article mentions that they'll use this information for all types of other crimes. Big Brother keeps growing bigger!

Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role - New York Times

Report Adds to Criticism of Halliburton's Iraq Role - New York Times

Army to Pay Halliburton Unit Most Costs Disputed by Audit - New York Times

Army to Pay Halliburton Unit Most Costs Disputed by Audit - New York Times

And the absurdity continues.

Bush Slips Social Security Plan Into Budget - Allan Sloan - Business Edge - Newsweek - MSNBC.com

Bush Slips Social Security Plan Into Budget - Allan Sloan - Business Edge - Newsweek - MSNBC.com
Here's the part I find most interesting. The previous commission examining Social Security had to agree to support private accounts.

Bush's 2001 Social Security commission had members of both parties, but they had to agree in advance to support private accounts. Their report, which had some interesting ideas, went essentially nowhere.

Is it really a fair, unbiased report when you predetermine the outcome?

Excite News

Excite News
Tax cuts for those with money, while those who are just scraping by have to dig even deeper. Most of these cuts have no chance of passing...in a year when members of Congress are running for re-election, but just wait until 2007 (assuming the Republicans retain control of the House). If this stuff passes, what it means is that state and local taxes will just increase to cover the difference, screwing the lower and middle class yet again. Who voted for this joker in office? Not me.

Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects

Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects

New York Daily News - Home - Bush on move is Guzzler in Chief

New York Daily News - Home - Bush on move is Guzzler in Chief
So, just after he tells us we're addicted to oil, he goes on another of his "road trips" to tell us over and over and over again, using buckets and buckets of the addictive stuff. What a freakin' idiot.

Intelligence Committee Senators Discuss Pakistan Airstrike - New York Times

Intelligence Committee Senators Discuss Pakistan Airstrike - New York Times: "Of the civilian casualties, he said, 'It's a regrettable situation, but what else are we supposed to do?'"

OK, so this is DEMOCRAT, Evan Bayh, making the statement. What the hell? Does someone want to explain to me the difference between an "insurgent" killing innocent Iraqis and an American air strike that kills innocent Pakistanis? We're supposed to be angered by the insurgent strikes but when our guys kill innocent people, that's OK? Me thinks not, Senator.

Basis for Spying in U.S. Is Doubted - New York Times

On the topic of NSA spying, a non-partisan Congressional research group has confirmed what all logical, reasonable people already knew - the Bush Administration's nonsensical reasoning for not seeking warrants for its wiretaps.

Basis for Spying in U.S. Is Doubted - New York Times