Blast readers are neither "down with me" or amused. Long time reader Fred has excised me from his desktop. "C" says that I have been particularly irritating lately. "K" points out that illegal is an adjective as if using it as a noun or god forbid a dangling participle somehow alters it's root intention. "N" suggests that my holier than thou american citizen diatribe smacks of entitlement. "S" informs me that the man will always win and that I am somehow selling out the little guy. My long estranged sister has let me know that I am excessively wordy, a stylistic error which might prove more easily correctable than my crappy elitist attitude.
I also received two excellent letters complimenting me on the balance of my Gaza post, thank you. On the question of illegal immigration, may I merely point out that if one wishes to give our uninvited guests access to free education and medical care, that the exercise be purely voluntary on your part and not a compulsory act that involves me. I leave for the hospital in an hour and have been instructed that a large chunk of cash will change hands prior to my ever being strapped on the gurney.
I think that it is important to call balls and strikes from both sides of the plate. Try it, it might prove liberating!
15 comments:
good luck on your visit to the hospital and please try to understand that you could be exactly who you are inside, but instead of having been raised by middle class white people, you had been raised by just as loving parents in the Guadalehara (or however you spell it).
All of our ancestors came here under duress except your family, I guess.No one who was already here, ever felt like newbies were entitled to much...other than do the most menial chores for no wages etc....
And in twenty years, when most Latinos are mainstreamed and newbies are coming from Sri Lanka or somewhere, chances are, they too will feel that way-look how right wing the Miami Cubans are...knee jerk reactions.
I can see both sides of the issue, but many many years ago, when I learned of one of my great grandfathers, arriving at Ellis Island...in those days, there were no AMEX cards....just a sack and a young wife, a couple of little babies, no understanding of the American way of life due to lack of education. He had a prospect of a job through a village contact back in Russia. His name was Trovsky. His contact for work was in Trenton. By the time he got off the train, he was in Scranton and his name was Trucker. I thank whoever it was, in the 1890's, who gave him and his family some shelter, or a kind word, a job and fucking band aid if his kids were hurt. I am sure there were many in those days who thought he should take his KIKE ass back to the Shtetl...
I can see both sides. I have my viewpoint. It is called compassion. I do not mind paying for the poor to get their kids an education. Look in the middle east at what happens to kids who do not go to school...in Afghanistan, it has been FIVE GENERATIONS since there was any public, free education....thanks but no thanks.
and besides all the grammatical screw ups, meant to add that I feel the same for decent healthcare for all...and be happy you can afford to write a check today, because you might wish to recall that the working poor do not get that break, and they are billed for the entire amount of the procedure and not the bullshit 'writeoff' prices your insurance company negotiates.....like I said, it is compassion that drives me. I see myself in the eyes of the poor. I do and that is part of living in a big city and one of the reasons I like being here. If you need a reality check, you go for a walk in a Chinese or Mexican neighborhood and actually look into the faces...and ask yourself if their kids should be denied medical care or education....
sorry-busy at work here and keep thinking of things....if you compare the entire cost of public education and the cost of the Detroit bailout????Or how about the Pentagon annual budget. Halliburton probably made more profits last year than the total sum of money paid out to teachers in this country...
Robert... good luck at the hospital!!! Keep us informed ( oh, I am sure you will... you don't need to use too many words to tell us that all is OK!!!)
Regarding immigration: I would rather that we did not have the illegal immigration problem. What we need and have needed for a long time is a "guest worker" program. We had one years ago in the form of the Bracero program. We did not have an illegal immigration problem while we had that program. At that time, the workers came for a while and then went home. They came back the next season and repeated the cycle. I think we could have a similar program today without the promise of amnesty or citizenship. The people are mainly looking to support their families.
Keep in mind that this country was built on cheap labor starting with the slaves, later the Chinese, Japanese and Hispanics. We need cheap labor and always will. Part of the reason that we are in an economic crisis is that we have exported our manufacturing base in order to take advantage of the cheap labor overseas... but that's another problem.
NYSTAN has some good points..
This is not an easy problem!!!
Dear Robert,
My point is that persisting in referring to a category of human being in a dehumanizing way, such as "illegals" or "feminazis" or "kikes," the heart and mind eventually follow.
Had your post been satire, I'd have ignored the word, but it wasn't, and you are too smart, too aware and too kind to intentionally contribute to such dehumanizing groupspeak. Want to be a writer? Acknowledge the power of words, devastating and elevating, both.
Love,
K-B
P.S. Nice ramble, NYSTAN, thanks.
A white 42 old Caucasian woman who worked here (in Arizona) died last week from a long illness. She had no money and could not afford insurance and was not eligible for the free hospital assistance that illegal aliens get because she was an white American citizen. She, as I was told, got some assistance from a free clinic but was ineligible for hospital care due to lack of funds.
NYSTAN, you miss the point! Why do some people get FREE medical at hospitals and others do not? Maybe it is [sic] reverse discrimination? Why can't every and all Americans have government mandated insurance? How come we spend millions on free medical aid for people who did not go through proper legalization like your grandfather did? Why do American citizens have to go through bankruptcy when faced with serious illnesses, yet the government picks up the tab on others? This is bass akwards..... Futhermore, just because somebody has the money to pay for medical services not covered by insurance does not justify free medical assistance for undocumented people who are not paying into the system, UNLESS IT IS A SYSTEM THAT HELPS ALL PEOPLE, INCLUDING POOR AMERICAN CITIZENS.
Where was the compassion when this lady died??????
Hang in there Robert, ( I know you hate me to say; Prayers for you dude.) Good things to come.
KJ
NYStan,
The problem is that he was not raised by loving parents. He was raised by parents who were too busy for the huge number of children they had.
So it's an excellent letter if they agree with you?
pretty much...
HEY ANON AND LIZ (HEY ANON, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO COME OUT OF THE INTERNET CLOSET AND TELL US WHO YOU REALLY ARE??!)----two points---large families---small families.....love and caring....nothing going on in that department...not sure what you could possibly mean unless you were being funny (sorry-I was on jury duty today and my head is about to explode.)
Contrary to what you suggested, ANON, one issue has nothing to do with the other. We do not have sufficient healthcare in this country and it affects everyone who makes less than 50 grand a year (and don't live at home with their parents or on a commune if there still are any.)
The two issues have nothing to do with each other for the simple reason that this country has the resources to manage all of these problems" Immigration management, control, healthcare for all including the unfortunate and the poor.
OR, at least we did until we started giving our money to the banks and auto industry....yeah, the auto industry-look what happened in Britain since WW2....that's what happens when governments get into making cars....not a good idea.
NYSTAN,
We agree one issue has NOTHING to do with the other.
Issue 1: If you are a poor U.S. citizen without insurance you get NOTHING when it comes to hospitalization.
Issue 2: If you are an illegal alien you give NOTHING into the system that gives you free hospitalization.
There is no argument with you about illegal immigrants wanting to better their lives by coming to America to work or get an education. If not for my fortune to be born in America I'd be on the border waiting for my chance just like them.
My argument is simple. Why does the government help non-Americans with no insurance and give NOTHING to it's people who earn, as you say, less than 50K? (You have alot of balls to make a statement like that-there are millions of un-insured Americans on the poverty line and they do not receive the free medical treatment that illegal aliens do.) ANON.
ps; You spell it Guadalajara-where they have the highest rate of kidnapping in the World, where Americans have little or no rights, unlike the Constitutional rights illegal Mexicans have here.
There are many anonymous bloggers, Stan - it's an end around the cumbersome sign in thing. Liz is my sister and a victim of the same psychopathic upbringing I had, little family, big family, when you are tossed around like cordwood by a parent addicted to darvon, its never a picnic. Best to all.
I Just Have to scream at somebody and I thought of you and your blog which I really enjoy reading. But here goes- I am so pissed off at Geitner and his nomination as the head of Treasury-
Please- We are talking 3rd grade math here!! If you owe back taxes for Soc. Sec & Medicare for 2 years of working for the International Monetary Fund, then Duh!! You also owe for the other two years you didn't pay. Geitner has proved himself to be a shyster, a lier & a cheat. Not a great person to lead our Treasury department. I am a Democrat, Single Mom, Small Business owner that pays my quarterly taxes each qtr regardless of how difficult it has been. President Elect Obama, Please don't try to make me and the rest of the American public look like sheep, excepting this guy as your nominee, we are not naive and stupid enough to swallow irresponsible appointees to a new cabinet.
Am I the only one who is pissed off here?
ABQTERRY
I don't know if I could trust a politician who didn't have a touch of larceny in his system - just wouldn't sit right.
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