The Border Fence.

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Throughout his primary campaign, U.S. Senator and teabagger wannabe, John McCain, has repeatedly called on President Obama to “finish the dang fence.” Of course, he’s referring to the fence being built along the border between Arizona and Mexico that has already cost billions of dollars.

McCain and Gov. Jan Brewer would have you believe that illegal immigration is the source of all our problems – crime, unemployment, the drain on social services, and the deficit. They would also have you believe that the fence, along with stationing thousands of National Guard troops in the desert will solve all of our problems. After all, who could get through a fence?

Well, for starters, how about the three escaped murderers who recently left an Arizona medium security prison by cutting a hole in a fence? Or how about the Mexican drug cartels that have breached the border fence by cutting holes in it and building ramps to drive over it? Or how about the human smugglers who have tunneled under it? How come McCain and Brewer never talk about that? And when they talk about adding National Guard troops at the border, why don’t they ever mention the nearly 10 border security guards per mile already stationed there?

Throughout history, there are plenty of examples of fences and walls that failed their purpose. The Great Wall, the Roman wall across England, the Berlin Wall…there are many more. What makes McCain and Brewer think this border fence will be any different? The point is that, if people are desperate enough, they are not going to let a fence stand in their way.

The immigration issue is extremely complex, driven by poverty on one side of the border and by the greed and need of employers on the other. In Arizona, as well as in other states, many of our homes have been built with the help of cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants. Much of our food is harvested, prepared and served to us by illegal immigrants. Many of our hotel rooms are cleaned by illegals. The list of products and services provided, wholly or in part, by undocumented workers is quite lengthy.

Who’s at fault? The workers? The employers? The Mexican government? The succession of administrations and Congresses that have failed to deal with the issue? The U.S. and Mexican economies? The Central and South American economies? Or those of us who knowingly purchase goods and services provided by undocumented workers? There is plenty of blame to go around.

Ramping up racist hatred through jingoistic campaign commercials does not help.

The Perpetual War Machine.

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As President Eisenhower was leaving office, he warned, “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist … Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

Consider the warning unheeded.

For 2010, the U.S. defense budget is $692,000,000,000 – more than the total of all 194 other nation’s combined. And that doesn’t even include the money being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan! By comparison, in 2009, the 2nd largest defense budget belonged to China at $98,800,000. And the defense budget for Russian Federation stood at a paltry $61,000,000.

Yet, as our nation struggles with high unemployment and decaying infrastructure, Republicans continue to push for more military spending along with the use of more military contractors such as Halliburton, KBR and XE (aka Blackwater). All the while, they rail against the growing deficit.

What about that makes any friggin’ sense?

Well, apparently it makes sense to former President George W. Bush. According to former Argentine Prime Minister Nestor Kirchner, Bush told him that “all the economic growth that the U.S. had had, had been based on the different wars it had waged.”  Wow!

So, according to Bush, our chief economic stimulus is war?! No wonder he ignored the warnings of 9/11. No wonder he invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. It was part of his plan for economic growth!

If our economy is based on war, then why, during the two longest wars in U.S. history, aren’t we thriving? Why are so many Americans unemployed? It would appear that Bush’s war theory makes as much sense as Reagan’s trickle down theory.

I have a better suggestion for improving our economy. Let’s cut our $692 billion defense budget in half. We’ll still have a budget more than three times the size of any other nation – enough to ensure our place as the biggest, baddest bully on the planet. And we’ll have money to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and invest in new industries that create jobs for people without killing others.

The Growing Underclass In America.

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There are currently 14.6 million Americans who are out of work, and that number likely doesn’t include millions more, such as the self-employed, who have seen their businesses diminish to virtually nothing. But before you blame the current Administration, take a look at the monthly unemployment claims beginning in January 2008. By the time President Obama was inaugurated, the new claims had grown to more than 750,000/month. Yet despite having to fight Republicans every step of the way, President Obama and Congress began to turn things around. In fact, in May of this year, we added 433,000 jobs.

The real question is, without enormous structural changes to our nation, what kind of jobs will be available?

Even before the Great Recession, most of our jobs were in the so-called service sector. And most of these jobs pay less than $25,000/year. The list includes fast food workers, restaurant workers, hosts and hostesses, dishwashers, cashiers, amusement park attendants, movie theater ushers and ticket-takers, farm workers, gaming dealers, bartenders, personal and home care aides, parking lot attendants, lifeguards, ski patrol, garment pressers, laundry & dry-cleaning workers, child care workers, maids, and elderly caregivers, receptionists, secretaries and maintenance “engineers”.

The result is that approximately 35 percent of the U.S. workers make $25,000/year or less! (The national poverty level is $21,756 for a family of four.) And many careers that were once considered good jobs, such as construction, don’t pay much better. Construction workers make only $11/hour to $15/hour.

Our nation has been bleeding relatively high-paying manufacturing jobs since the 1980s (7.7 million between 1986 and 2001). However, under the Obama Administration, the U.S. economy has actually begun to reverse that trend. New data shows that we have added more than 180,000 manufacturing jobs in 2010. Still, the majority of good jobs are in medicine, law and government. Indeed, of the top 15 highest paying jobs in America, 14 are in medicine.

Lowering taxes for corporations and the wealthy as Republicans demand won’t help create new higher-paying jobs. That will only ensure that the wealthy will make even more money and pay fewer taxes. It will also relegate even more of our citizens to the growing underclass.

A better option is to follow the path of FDR, Truman and Eisenhower – raise taxes on the wealthy and the “too big to fail” by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire then use the additional revenue to rebuild our infrastructure and to create energy alternatives to foreign oil. That would create opportunities for construction companies, manufacturers and suppliers of materials. It would also incentify our corporations to invest their hoards of cash, and it would encourage our banks to open their vaults and make loans to small businesses. More important, it would put people back to work.

A Look Back At The Shirley Sherrod Story.

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After the fraud committed by a right wing blogger and his co-conspirators at Fox Noise Channel, there are lingering questions we should be asking each other.

Would the same thing have happened if it was a white woman accused of racism? Would the white woman have been fired? If she had been, would the Administration have been pressured to hire her back? Would any of the media cared?

My point is that discrimination against black, brown and yellow people takes place all of the time. They face discrimination with regard to the money allocated for education. They face discrimination with regard to property taxes (it has been proven that those in the inner cities pay a disproportionate amount compared to those in the exurbs). They have long been discriminated against by the police. They are discriminated against by the court system. (If you doubt this, look at the difference in sentencing for those using crack cocaine and those using powder.) And politicians have blamed them for nearly every problem our nation faces.

Yet you seldom see reports of their abuse. And you almost never see the kind of furor generated by Fox. Why? To some degree, it can be explained by the theory that “dog bites man” is not news while “man bites dog” is. But a more troubling explanation is that those on the right, who generated the story of Shirley Sherrod, don’t care about discrimination of others. They’re merely ideologically opposed to our mixed race President and they’re pulling out every stop in repeated attempts to discredit him. In other words, they’ve pulled out the playbook used against President Clinton (with the accusations of “Travel-gate”, Whitewater, “Trooper-gate”, etc.).

Shirley Sherrod was simply a convenient pawn in their evil game.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Immigration Update From The Front.

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Whatever happens to Arizona’s notorious SB 1070 in the courts, I believe the real problem with illegal immigration is that corporations continue to hire undocumented workers. (After all, why pay $10/hour to a US citizen, when you can hire an illegal for $6/hour or less? And the illegal won’t complain about the hours, demand benefits or expect raises.)

To deal with this problem, the tough-talking AZ State Legislature passed the “Legal Arizona Workers Act” in 2007 which then-Governor Janet Napolitano signed into law.  This law demands that all Arizona employers verify a prospective employee’s status before hiring. The penalty for hiring an undocumented worker is a fine for the first violation and the revocation of the company’s business license for the second offense. Yet two and a half years after the law went into effect, The Arizona Republic states that “only about half of new hires in Arizona have been vetted by a federal system that checks their status.” And lest you government-haters start blaming Obama, the newspaper also found that only “about a third of the state’s estimated 100,000 employers have signed up for the E-Verify program.”

So where is Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe, the so-called “nation’s toughest sheriff” when you need him? He’s big on arresting and deporting illegal workers. But, apparently, he could care less about the businesses that hire them. In Maricopa County (the county that encompasses most of the Phoenix metro), only two businesses have been sanctioned for hiring illegals. And none have lost their licenses. This despite Homeland Security estimates of more than 460,000 illegals living (and working) in the state.

So the magnet that draws illegals to Arizona is still in place.

But if, like me, you’re thinking that preventing businesses from hiring undocumented workers would be more effective and less costly than building multi-billion dollar fences along the border, or maintaining a force of 10 border patrol agents per mile, Gov. Brewer and Senator McNasty would tell you that’s Socialist thinking. Like most Republicans, they believe businesses should be unencumbered by regulations to feed their greed.

BOO (Blame it On Obama).

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Even before President Obama took the oath of office, Republicans and racists were making absurd claims about him. Never in my lifetime (and I’ve lived through 12 administrations), have I seen so many false and unsubstantiated charges against a President. Yes, there were many accusations about George W. Bush, but the vast majority of them were based on policies and facts. On the other hand, most of the charges against Obama defy logic. So, with the mid-term Congressional elections on the horizon, I thought it might be interesting to take stock of the Republican charges:

Obama was not born in the U.S., therefore his presidency is illegitimate.
Obama stole the election with the help of ACORN.
Obama is embracing our enemies.
Obama pals around with terrorists.
Obama’s fist bump with Michelle is a terrorist greeting.
Obama takes orders from his racist black Christian minister.
Obama is a Muslim.
Obama hates Christians.
Obama hates America.
Obama is an elitist.
Obama is a Facist.
Obama is a Communist.
Obama is a Socialist.
Obama is a racist.
Obama is responsible for the Great Recession.
Obama bailed out Wall Street.
Obama favors Wall Street over Main Street.
Obama is responsible for the national deficit.
Obama is trying to indoctrinate your children.
Obama’s health care reform is socialized medicine.
Obama wants to “kill Granny”.
Obama is going to take away your MediCare.
Obama refuses to talk with Republicans.
Obama wants to take away your guns.
The Census is an Obama plot to place conservatives in internment camps.
Obama is weak on terrorism.
Obama has refused to help create jobs.
Obama wants to raise your taxes.
Afghanistan is Obama’s war.
Obama is anti-Israel and anti-Jew.
Obama refuses to overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Obama wants to ruin our military with openly gay soldiers.
Obama is not doing enough to contain BP’s gusher.
Obama has refused to protect our borders from illegal immigrants.
Obama doesn’t want to stop illegal immigration because he wants their votes.
Obama refused to indict members of the new Black Panthers.
Obama is anti-business.

Of all these charges, only one is partially true. (Obama does want to raise taxes on the wealthy by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for Americans making $250,000/year or more.) In fact, many of the charges contradict others. And, despite all of the rhetoric, Obama is no wild-eyed liberal. He is a centrist who has strived to bring the country together and end the divisiveness of political extremes. He even tried to appoint centrist Republicans to his cabinet.

On numerous occasions, he reached across the aisle for Republican input on his legislative agenda. Then, after Republicans were allowed to insert amendments into the legisation, they refused to vote for it. In most cases, Senate Republicans have refused to even allow a vote on the legislation. If the current trend continues, Republicans will set a record for the number of filibusters. But, according to Republicans, that’s not their fault. The blame belongs to … (wait for it) … Obama.

Hey, Climate Change Deniers, Deny This!

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You simply don’t want to make changes to our economy because you’re selfish. You’re a bunch of angry anti-government, “conservatives” who want to be able to drive your gas-guzzling cars. You want to leave your energy-gobbling incandescent lights on all night, keep your thermostats at 72 degrees in the summer and crank them up to 78 degrees in the winter.

You want to burn carbon and pollute the planet like your parents and your parents’ parents. You want to continue to use up a disproportionate share of the planet’s resources – to hell with the environment. You want to continue to carry your groceries in plastic bags because it’s too much trouble to remember the reuseable ones. You want to use disposable everything because it’s too much work to recycle. And you certainly don’t want Al Gore and a bunch of pointy-headed liberals to tell you what you can and can’t do.

You look at the findings of the scientific community and scoff. After all, you won’t be around to suffer the consequences if the scientists are right.

Who cares if the glaciers are melting at an alarming rate? Who cares if the planet’s CO2-consuming forests are dwindling? Who cares if hundreds of species are becoming extinct? (You’ve seen plenty of videos of them on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel anyway. Right?) Who cares if our sources of fresh water are disappearing or becoming polluted?

Think I’m exaggerating? In my community of mostly retirees, this is the attitude I hear all the time. The only environment that concerns these people is the condition of the golf course. Of course, it’s terrible that those poor people in Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Iowa and Kansas are suffering more floods and severe weather. But the weather is cyclical. It’s God’s will. (Until it affects them or their families.)

I find this degree of selfishness insufferable. Don’t you climate change deniers ever ask yourself, What if the scientists are right? What will happen to my children and grandchildren and all of the millions of young people I don’t even know?

What makes the position of the deniers so unfathomable is that, rather than disrupt our economy, climate change legislation could be good for it. Providing real incentives for the development of solar, wind, wave, biofuels, nuclear and other alternative energies could provide tens of thousands of new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. We could create even more jobs by developing new infrastructure to recharge electric cars and to develop high-speed rail. We would have cleaner air and water. And we could stop sending billions of dollars to places like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and even Iran. We might even avoid a few wars.

Seriously, folks, what do we have to lose?

Yes, I know you deniers don’t like change. I know it would be painful to admit that the liberals are actually right. And I know that the heads of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly would likely explode. But that, alone, would leave the planet a better place.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Brewer And McCain Telling Racist Lies For Political Gain.

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You know how Gov. Jan Brewer and teabagger wannabe, John McCain, talk about the “illegal immigrant crisis” in Arizona? You know how they portray the state as the most dangerous in the nation as a result of illegal immigration?

Well, I hate to get in the way of a good political campaign theme, but the facts tell a very different story.

Truth is, violent crime has been dropping in AZ for decades. In 2009, violent crime was the lowest since 1983. And property crimes were the lowest since 1968. Some crime wave, huh? By comparison, for 2007, there were 177 more violent crimes in Sarah Palin’s Alaska than in Arizona. And there were 241 more violent cimes in neighboring Nevada.

In Nogales, AZ which sits on the border with Mexico, there were 23 violent crimes in 2000 and only 19 in 2009. In fact, the Sheriff of Pima County, Clarence Dupnik, has been quoted as saying “…the border has never been more secure.” Statistics back that up. According to a report in the Arizona Republic, there are nearly 10 federal agents per mile of Arizona border – more than any time in our history. And President Obama just dispatched more than 500 National Guard troops to the Arizona/Mexico border – twice what Gov. Brewer requested. Yet she continues to say that the current administration has done nothing to curb illegal immigration and violence along the border!

Brewer and McCain also imply that illegal immigrants commit a disproportionate percentage of crimes. Although the state and federal government do not track the number of crimes committed by illegals, there is one indication that’s another lie. In Cochise County, which borders Mexico, only 4 percent of the crimes are committed by illegal residents – roughly equal to their proportion of the population.

So, as it turns out, you have little to fear from illegals by coming to AZ. And though I believe we must do even more to curtail illegal immigration, there are many other things of more pressing concern for our state – like Arizona traffic. There were 1066 traffic deaths in the state for 2007. But many of the same people who are screaming about illegal immigration have demanded that the state remove its photo radar cameras which target those who speed and run red lights. Now those people are scary!

Where Are The Climate Change Deniers Now?

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Last winter, those who refuse to accept the science of climate change used the blizzards in Washington, DC and New England to “prove” their point that global warming doesn’t exist. By that same logic, shouldn’t those people be sounding the alarm for global warming now? After all, much of the U.S. has suffered through weeks of extreme hot weather.

It would appear that the only “proof” they will accept is something that supports their own uninformed opinion.

Who Are We Afraid Of? (Part II)

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It was recently announced that the U.S. military budget ($692 billion for FY 2010) now exceeds military spending by all other nations combined. That’s right. We now spend more on defense than all 194 of the other countries in the world! And that doesn’t even include the money we spend on Homeland Security, or most of the money we spend on intelligence gathering. (A recent expose’ by the Washington Post reported an estimated 854,000 people work in the secretive information gathering business in the U.S. No one knows how much money is being spent on the endeavor.)

There can be only two conclusions from that data: We are the most powerful nation in the world. And we are the most paranoid; maybe with good reason.

According to Wikipedia, “as of March 31, 2008, U.S. armed forces were stationed at more than 820 installations in at least 135 countries.” Of course, we have large numbers in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. But we still have 52,440 in Germany, 9,660 in Italy and 35,688 in Japan more than 60 years after WWII. We have 28,500 in the Republic of Korea more than 50 years after the Korean Conflict. We have 9,015 in the United Kingdom (are we expecting a repeat of our Revolutionary War?), 47,236 in East Asia, 3,362 in North Africa … the list goes on.

Given the state of our economy, what could possibly justify the expenditures? If they’re not needed, we’re wasting an incredible amount of money. And if they are, we need to change our foreign policy, because we must be the most hated people on Earth.