Back, finally!

I’m back!

Sorry, I was out of town all last week and didn’t find a whole lot of time for posting, and I've been so busy as a result, this week has flown by as well!
I was down in Arizona, visiting out plant in Mexico. We’d heard a lot of rumors about how difficult it was going to be to cross the border (and cross back) but we didn’t have any trouble at all. We did see a checkpoint in AZ that in the past was either closed or just waved people through that was really back up (thank you Jan Brewer) but by the time we finally hit it (heading back north) we were just waved through.

Guard: What country y’all from?

Us: This one!

Guard: OK, have a nice day.

No need to check the passports or ID’s of anyone who doesn’t look illegal, I guess. (Not that I’m suggesting that they racially profile or anything!)

Since we had been to Mexico (and needed our passport anyway) we would have been prepared later that evening when we got pulled over for speeding. (You know, if the cops were still required to check for citizenship.) But there was no need (no thanks to Jan Brewer) and we were let off with a warning. (Good thing we didn’t look illegal, huh? Not that I’m suggesting that they racially profile or anything!)

Anyway, enough of that.

Although a few of these are out of date at this points, there are a few things I came accross over the past two weeks that I wanted to share with y’all...


Glenn Beck’s big rally cam and went without the Rapture occurring or the Second Coming or even free Ice Cream fro the kids. Considering how much hey pumped it up over the past few months, I’d imagine that the bulk of the crowd ended up thinking, “THAT was what I came to D.C.? Oh well, at least the weather was nice.” (But maybe not, I mean if you’re impressed by Glenn Beck, you can’t be that hard to impress!) Daily Kos had a interest first hand account of the event, from a liberal Black man who attended out of curiosity. Very enlightening read.  Worth checking out.


Robert Kuttner had a savage response to the rumblings of the Cat-food commission regarding social security. It’s amazing how easy these problems would be to sovle, and how far even the “liberal” (notice the “quotes”?) politicians are willing to go to screw over the lower 99% of the country to satisfy the top 1%. We’re NOT a "conservative country” but we sure as hell are RULED by them, aren’t we? What the hell would it take to get congress to just ACT IN THE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE? Why is that SO HARD? What would it take? Breaking out the tar and feathers? Shooting some of them? Seriously! But then it’s no surprise that even our “liberal” (notice the “quotes”?) politicans are so god dmaned useless, because we have such a stupid and uneducated electorate that doesn’t hold them accountable! And since the “liberal” (notice the “quotes”?) media is no better, it’s not surprising at all that we have such a stupid and uneducated populace! In fact, it’s depressingly predicatble.


And what the fuck is up with THESE PEOPLE?! Book-burning? Really? One of the most visible and recognizable hallmarks of the Nazi’s, and every other vile Dictatorship and suppression of human rights and free expression and free religious practice that America ever stood against? That’s what we’ve been reduced to? What UnAmerican SCUM. I hope their church burns down with their children asleep in the nursery


(No.  I'm not apologizing for that last bit.  Fuck 'em.)


Coming up in the next few days…

- A continuation of Steeve’s and my conversation about the origin of Christianity.

- A Republican Propaganda Video that shows just how gullible Republican’s are.

- And I’ve read and replied to all of the comments that you’ve all left over the past couple weeks, just so you know that I DO read them and very much appreciate them!

Life in an Arizona, and Mexican, border-town

I’ve been on the road, traveling on business the last couple of days, so I haven’t had a chance to blog. Coincidentally, I’ve been staying in Arizona and crossing over to our assembly plant in Mexico. It’s been interesting to see and hear peoples reaction to the new immigration law – especially from those American Citizens of Mexican decent; people who were born here and have lived here they’re whole lives, went to school here, married here, had kids here but who now may face the possibility of having to proove that they’re Americans.

Now… it should go without say for any of my regular readers that I am completely opposed to this new law. It’s beyond racist – it’s downright fascist. It’s the kind of thing the Nazi’s did to root out suspected Jews and that we did in our country, prior to the civil war, to Blacks and Freedmen and escaped slaves living in the North, who, lacking the proper paperwork, faced deportation and enslavement to the south. There is such a long, dark and despicable history of this kind of nonsense that I fail to see how “Show me your papers” can be remotely acceptable to ANY American.

Or, as the Mexican-American driver who picked us up and drove us to the plant said, “You can be pulled over now for driving with a sun-tan.”

I was a bit surprised that there was not MORE venom, to be honest, but perhaps he figured he should keep things polite in mixed company. That and this particular gentleman is also one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met, so maybe that's just not his way. Seriously, it’s like taking a ride with Cheech Marin. He even looks and sounds a bit like him. But I digress.

The other thing that surprised me at first was that I saw no support, at all, from ANYONE, regarding this law. And you’d think in a border town, you’d have a considerable amount of support. I mean… if there’s a THREAT, it’s going to hit them first, right? But I as talked to more people, I found over and over that the people in border towns have a unique perspective on the issue: To them, the issue of immigration has a HUMAN face to it. They invariably have friends and co-workers on both sides of the border. To them, these people that will now face this unreasonable harassment are their friends and their neighbors and co-workers and in some cases employees. They LIVE with and WORK with and PLAY with these PEOPLE. And thus they see them as PEOPLE. And when you put a human face on a problem, it becomes a lot harder to look another human in the eye and say, “No. I will not help you. I will not protect you. I will not respect your rights, or your humanity.” The only people who can look at someone and say that, who can look as some, living and breathing right in front of them and feel nothing but fear and hatred, are racists.

Now, I’m not suggesting that those living farther from the border, who feel this same fear, and who support the law, are racist. Not at all. If you’ve never MET a Mexican, then there’s no reason to expect your opinion of them to be educated by more than stereotypes, and the imagery that Fox News shows you, with the intention of feeding that fear. The racist is merely the person who, upon meeting someone who doesn’t FIT the stereotype, refuses to let go of it. I’ve met precious few people who have actually gotten to actually know Mexicans, who still buy into the stereotypes afterwards. And those that do? Well, they’re either cops or racists. And I say cops, because police officers are another group that have unique perspective on humanity: They typically only ever see the worst of it. So while I don’t excuse a cop who’s racist, in that case, I can at least understand where it comes from. All the [name your racial subgroup]’s that s/he’s interacts with are usually being arrested and charged with crimes. And while they should recognize this fact, I can’t fault someone as much who’s merely reaching the conclusion that the data they have supports. Although… as my relatively racially insensitive cousin would attest to, even after going on a fairly racist tirade about all the various immigrant groups he’s had to deal with: There’s no trash like white trash. Even in his Right-Wing eyes, they’re STIILL the worst. He still dreads the trailer-park call more than any other.  I find that oddly and ironically amusing. But I digress.

As for the stereotype? Let me tell you something about Mexicans: These people work hard. They work like dogs and get paid SHIT. And I’ve met no shortage of Mexican managers and engineers that are smart as whips, and work harder than I even try to. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent (if you’d gathered that yet) but I’ve stood awestruck at some of the things these guys have come up with, and the production lines they’ve designed and built. No way I could ever do that. No way in hell. And I’m an engineer! And the line operators? Oh my god, break neck speed, with many, many steps in each operation, and yet this plant has won quality awards! So these people should be the poster children for hard work and ingenuity, and instead they’re described as lazy and stupid. And do you know what they’re paid for this, including the cost of benefits? $65 dollars a WEEK. For a 40-hour shift! Now, I do realize that $65 dollars goes a little farther in Mexico than it does here, but still! For $65 a week, you’d be lucky to get me to even show up! Let alone give a shit about the job, or do it well! And the ones that DO come here? Those hardened criminals, who’s only crime is walking across an arbitrary line in the sand as the sought a better life for themselves and their family? These people work the SHITTIEST jobs available, again get paid SHIT, and in this country get NO benefits for doing so. These people work hard in a way that puts most Americans to shame.

I thought we were a country that valued hard work? I thought we were a country that valued entreprenuerial spirit? That valued that drive to excel, to build a better life for yourself and your family? That celebrated a person who, like my father and so many of our parents, the first in their family to go to college? Well… apparently only if your brown skin really did come from the sun, and wasn’t something you were born with.

Well, these people are my colleagues and co-workers and many have become my friends. And I’ve had a human face put on that stereotype and on the "problem" of immigration, and I can no longer abide the racial sentiments of those who have experienced no more of the Mexican culture than what Taco Bell has to offer. I CARE about these people, because I KNOW these people. And I won’t stand by while their hard work and talent and ingenuity are slandered.

As far as I’m concerned, Governor Jan Brewer and Senator John McCain are unfit to serve the public, for giving into to this fear and xenophobia.

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I plan to do a separate post on stereotypes before doing one on immigration.