Posts Tagged ‘Rights’

National ID.

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Did you know that as an American citizen you are not required to carry identification papers on you? To travel on an airline or drive a car yes, but you can walk out of your house and down the street with nothing on you but  the clothes on your back. It is this idea which will overturn Arizona’s latest crazy law ‘Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act‘. Its name is a ‘bush-era’ style name of dressing up laws with ‘we did it for the children’ style phrasing and naming. Some examples of that style being the Patriot Act which removed basic rights and freedoms of US citizens in the wake of 911, the Clear Sky’s Air made to look like we were driving for better environmental regulations but instead deregulated industries and lowered EPA protection standards, and my favorite the ‘No Child Left Behind’ which was one of the worst and most inefficient ideas ever for trying to help. I could write a book on how the erosion and devaluing of the education system in the US has affected the strength of our country.

So in addition to criminalizing not having your proof of citizenship on you at all times, this law criminalizes transporting, sheltering, or hiring illegals from stopped cars (huh?). Law enforcement agencies are also required to during all interactions to make an attempt at determining a persons citizenship and as an added bonuses, if you feel as though your local law enforcement is turning a blind eye towards enforcing said laws you can SUE them. That’s right, you can take them to court. The war on illegals is a lot like the war on drugs, it is focused on the result and not the cause. We were all immigrants once, even the Indians.

Religion and the Right.

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

A friend of mine proclaims every chance he gets: ‘the poor should never be of conservative beliefs’. From an economic point of view that is true enough. In America conservative values strive for limits on government, enforcing and practicing financial discipline, promoting big business, keep a strong national defense, and ensuring strong traditional family values leaning strongly towards those that align with christian values. In a nutshell it is the special interests of big business that win out over the rights and protection of the individuals except for ticket issues such as gun, abortion, and religious rights. And it is the big ticket issues which are what get conservatives elected. It is a balancing act between the interests of big business and the special interests. Big business pays the bills, people win elections. If there was a way to just flat out ‘buy’ election votes…then I’m sure those complex and tough ‘ticket’ issues would get the boot.

Here is an interesting article discussing why the religious right are on the wrong side politically and morally: How Do Christians Become Conservative?