Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Immigration and Iraq

Laundry time! Yay clean clothes! and funky music that I'm listening to in here... hmm..

I'm almost done with classes, two of them have canceled what regular classes were left, so I only have... 3 left to go to. Until finals, that is. Then, hello office! Good news, I can bring books to read! I need a good reading list. I have a few...

I went to my policy & legis. class this morning, my professor told a story that made me so angry I couldn't pay attention for the rest of the class. Yup, I'm going to tell it to you. I've calmed down a little, so I think I can tell it now.

This story does not begin with "Once upon a time" because it is still happening.

A young soldier came home from the war (Iraq) recently, and my professor somehow knew him. He said his job in Iraq was to guard a street, make sure people came to a stop at the intersection, check their cars as they came by, etc. He had a machine gun, just in case. One day a car came through without coming to a stop. It was a man with four children, one an infant. His commander told him to shoot them down. He did. They're dead. The stop sign was in english. The young soldier now goes to counseling for nightmares.

Sad story number 2 (also told in my class this morning.)

What would you think of someone who kidnapped a people because of their nationality, locked them up in internment camps, threw them out in a different country, or who knows what else. They didn't take the children though. Guess the kids weren't considered dangerous enough. Know one really knew what happened to these people, those responsible for removing them wouldn't tell. The children are left without parents, or even a clue to where they might be. What would you think of people who would do that? Sounds like that movie, Apocalypto, or maybe Children of Men. Or barbarians hundreds of years ago.
But not now. Not America. Right?

My professor's wife teaches at an elementary school here. She said they've been having a few problems regarding the new illegal immigration policy. Here is the scenario:
The "illegal immigrants" move here so that they can get jobs, homes that aren't made out of cardboard, food, etc. They have kids. These kids are now citizens of the United States. They go to school. The government decides to get rid of illegal immigrants. They raid an area, take the illegal immigrants to who knows where (either an internment camp or somewhere in Mexico), while the kids are at school.

I'm going to a panel on our immigration policy tomorrow, several professors from NAU will be sharing. Dear God, what is happening? It scares me, to know that this is going on, and no one even knows. Or maybe they don't care. That might be even more sad.

DId you know that the illegal immigrants support our social security system? It would (will) collapse without them. They have to pay into it, but can't take out of it. Of course, that might not be a problem if our country didn't lead the world in military spending. Gotta keep those terrorists away, right? But if they're soooo worried about terrorists, they should probably start with American citizens cause we also lead the world in murder, addiction, (imperialism), etc.

And if they want to help people, maybe they should start at home. We have 40 million people wihtout health insurance, but we're spending 9 billion dollars a week in Iraq. Our minimum wage hadn't been raised in years, but our legislators found it more important to win an argument against the House than to get it raised.

Man, I guess I'm still a little upset. More people should be. But then, in a society where self is more important than others, why should anyone care? I hate capitalism. Ok I'm done. Doing my part to raise awareness, lol.

On a brighter note, here's some pics of me and rosanna at the dove....



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ummm, I hate Blogger! I can't comment on your blog
anymore, apparently! So here's my comment, coming the
long way around:

Oh my....erm, I'm sorry? ;) I'm not really mocking
you, I just never know what to say when you rant. =)

First pic is sooooo cute! Second one is soooo scawy.
Emma and I are still shuddering!

Praying for you and your finals and stuff!!
I love you.....and although the world is not a good
example of human compassion and it is so very hard to
think about how change could ever happen, YOU can be
and I know you will make a huge difference in numerous
lives over the course of yours. And that is GREATNESS chicky.

mmichele said...

i love radicals and optimists and idealists and people who speak truth.
keep it up.
(and i liked blue like jazz, too. will read the other one you mentioned.)