Cranium Stew (It's Brain Food...)

My Atheist Response to Giles County Schools' 10 Commandments Brouhaha

2011-02-23T10:19:00.011-05:00

KATELYN POLANTZ The Roanoke Times

Over the last couple of months, the public school system of Giles County, which neighbors mine, has been in the news for it's defiant, unconstitutional posting of the Christian "10 Commandments" on the walls inside all of it's school buildings. The latest development is that they've voted to remove them again at a meeting yesterday morning, a month after they voted to hang them back up during an evening meeting on January 20th that was mobbed by pissed off parents, preachers, and the rest of their "Christian community." That spectacle followed the decision in December to remove the 10 Commandments (which had been up for 10 years), following a parent complaint and the advice of the school district's attorney.

The latest article,"Giles County School Board: Remove Ten Commandments displays" from the local paper, the Roanoke Times, has links to its earlier articles on this saga, if anyone wants to catch up. Dan Casey, one of the paper's featured columnists, also invited whadda-ya-think responses on his blog, "The Giles County School Board caves on the Ten Commandments thread," so I started to post my take, but realized it would probably be way too long and possibly inflammatory (naw!) for some folks, so I'm posting it here with a link in his comment thread for anyone choosing to follow it.

For those already familiar enough with the situation, or are just too lazy to go to Dan Casey's blog, here's what prompted my wanting to jump in: there were actually more reasonable people commenting here than on other Roanoke Times threads about this subject, but there's always at least one persistent right-wingnut, tossing out insults and dancing to the beat of her own bible-thumping. This one goes by the name "Suzie," and after several uses of the term "atheist kooks" and BS about the fer'ners swoopin' in to attack the god a'ferin' folk of Giles, accusing the ACLU of bribing the local plaintiffs to bring suit, she answers another commenter with this --

"Question: 'What qualifies someone as an ‘atheist kook’ in your book?'
Oh, that’s an easy one, Warlock. Atheist kooks are the Christianity police who have radio shows begging for plaintiffs to come forth because some rural school 1000 miles away is posting ten proven rules of virtuous living that have been around for thousands of years. Then when a few weeks go by without results, they locate a couple of folks who might be amenable to litigation as long as the price is right."
Comment by Suzie — February 22, 2011 @ 11:32 pm

KATELYN POLANTZ The Roanoke Times

Now, I'd been following this story, and her claim was so easy to disprove, using articles from just a few weeks ago on this very same site. So I began with links and quotes from two previous articles, and then I got on a roll about her slams against atheists. But as it wound up being so long, and was really a cumulative reaction to many similarly ignorant and intolerant comments from others on different threads, I decided not to clutter up Dan's page, but instead post here, and possibly link to or quote from it in other places, for the truly brave/patient/bored to read at their leisure. So here goes --

The first four "commandments" are purely religious and have nothing to do with secular morality, or "rules of virtuous living." In fact, the second one prohibits art classes, as well as Jeebus paintings on black velvet: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

Suzie, as for your claim that the issue is being instigated from others 1,000 miles away, you're wrong on that, but religious "kooks" don't pay attention to facts that contradict their delusions of persecution. Two earlier articles from this same publication detail that local parents with kids in Giles County PUBLIC Schools made the initial complaints, including contacting FFRF and the ACLU:

KATELYN POLANTZ The Roanoke Times

"Giles schools give God space; will return Ten Commandments display to buildings"--

"Attorney Patrick Elliott of the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Wisconsin told the district a resident had notified the foundation about the commandments on display at Macy McClaugherty Elementary/Middle School in Pearisburg. Elliott cited a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the 1980 Stone v. Graham Supreme Court ruling and other cases.

Stone v. Graham ruled unconstitutional a Kentucky statute that required public school classrooms to display the commandments. And the Establishment Clause states, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.' "

"Question over God in schools a familiar one for Giles County" --

"A recent complaint about the Ten Commandments hung in Giles County's public schools wasn't the district's first. Sarah McNair, a 2004 graduate of Giles High School, wrote letters of complaint about the Ten Commandments on her high school's wall in January 2004. She sent the letters to state Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, and Gov. Mark Warner. The officials forwarded the letters to the Virginia Department of Education. McNair wrote that students' rights were violated and that it was a 'serious issue that cannot be ignored.'

Both Virginia's secretary of education and the superintendent of public instruction responded, and dismissed her concerns. The state leaders said they spoke with Robert McCracken, Giles County's superintendent at the time. He couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

The new kid in school, McNair eventually found her group of friends -- a small cast of 'outsiders,' she said, some not particularly religious. She noted how some students bullied her group, and when an art poster she had drawn depicting gay, lesbian and straight couples was defaced, she wrote to the representatives. 'I really strongly wanted to make the school religiously neutral, so the school would speak out for all its students, not just religious students,' she said Thursday. 'The more religious documents posted around, it sort of made it OK for bulliers to do that to nonreligious students,' she said."

KATELYN POLANTZ The Roanoke Times

Just like the adult bullies that showed up at that January School Board meeting. Yeah, those kids are learning "community values" alright, that "might makes right."

(Warning: major run-on sentence ahead)

And Suzie, as far as calling atheists "kooks," we're not the ones who believe in a magic sky fairy-man, who is perfect and created everything just as he wanted, but is so passive-aggressive he made people flawed on purpose, so after getting mad and drowning everyone (including infants and animals, who hadn't done a "damn" thing -- pun intended), in addition to wiping out towns and other semitic tribes he urges to be massacred (when he's not blowing them up himself, and I don't think the babies of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to rape those angels), he impregnates a little girl so she can have his son whose only purpose is to die an agonizing death to save us from the hell he made, even though god created us to fail in the first place -- because he's all powerful.

But this sin-forgiving only works if we drink his blood and eat his flesh, and kill other people who don't convert, or even kill other Christians for practicing the wrong TYPE of Christianity. Oh, and after we've committed genocide against the Native Americans who used to reside here and practiced their own non-Christian religion in what is now Giles County. Yeah, real nice values ya got there!

Oops, I almost forgot about this pissy god's low self-esteem, needing to prove that Job would still love him after killing his whole family and ruining his life (goaded on by the devil, also created by god), like an insecure, jealous lover or overbearing mother. Then he pulled a lesser version of that stunt by playing head games with Abraham -- "Kill your son -- just kidding, psych! Just slaughter that poor ram over there minding his own business instead, because I'm going to demand blood sacrifices until I tell your descendants to kill my only son so they can yammer on about being 'washed in the blood' and worship the instrument of his death. Oh, and mutilate your penis to prove you love me."

The public schools are no place to promote your sadomasochistic, zombie-worshipping, cannibalistic necrophilia. Save it for a George A. Romero movie.

Atheist Cat says Christmas is NOT the only "Reason for the Season"

2010-12-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows I'm an atheist, but Christmas has become a national, secular holiday that is enjoyed with family and friends by many non-Christians, and as most of the trappings and customs are pagan anyway, I feel I "own" this celebration as much as any Christian. They don't have exclusive rights, even thought they tried to steal them hundreds of years ago and are still so insecure they have to shove their desperate "reason for the season" propaganda in everyone else's faces. They pitch a fit when people say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," because it reminds them that there are people who don't agree with them, even if the greeters are fellow Christians who are secure enough to acknowledge others and want to share cheerful sentiments while recognizing the diversity of our country. If Dec. 25th is your day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, that's fine with me. I have no problem with someone wishing me "Merry Christmas," and I usually say it myself out of habit, just like saying "dammit" when I'm pissed, even though I don't believe in anything that could carry out the damnation.

But what is it about the birth of Christ that makes his professed followers so un-Christ-like? I don't have to be Baptist to appreciate Martin Luther King Jr, I don't have to be Hindu to appreciate Ghandi, and I don't have to be Jewish or Christian to appreciate the teachings of peace, compassion, inclusion, justice, and social equality associated with the man the Greeks referred to as Jesus. If someone is truly educated and confident in their Christian beliefs, they wouldn't insist that the observance of Jesus' birthday be the dominant, or only "reason for the season," because they'd know that the date isn't even mentioned in their Bible, and it definitely wasn't late December, but described as occurring during warmer weather, probably either in the Spring or Fall. They would know that the choosing of December 25th was a deliberate, misleading act by the Christian Church to compete with and supplant existing customs and celebrations observed by followers of other religions, either on or around that date. The enforcement of Dec. 25th as Jesus' birthday was political, deceptive, often malicious and brutal, and it's sad to see that it continues to be, since it was declared by the Pope 300 years after Jesus died.

In many rural, un/underdeveloped parts of the world, babies aren't born in medical facilities and/or there isn't the record keeping we have here, so many times birthdays are estimated (this is true where my husband grew up in Mexico.) But they can still celebrate birthdays on a date of their choosing, so if Christians want to observe Jesus' birth on Dec. 25th as THEIR "reason for the season," that's their right. But don't intimidate or bully everyone else by screeching that it has to be EVERYONE's "reason," especially by demanding that the acknowledgment of anything different be downplayed, ignored, or even banned. To Christians, it should matter more that they try to live up to the teachings and concepts attributed to Jesus, not become threatened and overbearing, insisting on dominating others over an undocumentable date. Really, what's more important to Christianity, the date he was born, or what he said and did AFTER he was born?

"Hispanicity" - Perceptions of Race in Immigration Politics (from comment thread for Politics Daily Facebook cartoon link)

2010-08-04T23:23:00.004-04:00

Arizona-Mexico Border, 2020

I couldn't help myself, I clicked "view all comments." I should know better, but it's a compulsion whenever a link scrawls down my Facebook newsfeed that addresses what I know will be a very controversial and/or emotionally charged issue. (Note to readers who may be out there, I use "and/or" an awful lot. I also start off sentences with "And...") And this was on one of my most yakked about topics, that of Mexicans and immigration opponents.

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I'm going to start posting excerpts from threads like this that I've contributed to with lengthy and/or what I feel are particularly good comments. After my last post announcing my intentions, I'd planned to edit and summarize my and others' comments from these threads, but I don't have the patience and concentration to do that right now, and as it's been awhile since that announcement, I've realized I'll end up just not posting at all, so if I have a chance to go back and clean it all up later, or at least have it all in one place to compile and compose as a separate, more readable piece, then groovy. And as this is a still-active comment thread, I may be updating this post with more, if and when it's directed at or added to by me, and you can consider this fair warning.

So here it is, starting with a few comments from others that prompted my jumping into the fray (using other FB users' first-names.)

From Kathleen: "There is a border. Good fences make good neighbors! Can I come down to your Mexican community and sell my wares? Without papers? Without permission? Without Questions? Would I be safe?"

This was preceeded and followed with mostly mainstream cliches about dang-ferners and pro-Arizona Gov. Jan "Boleyn" Brewer blather, but I had to answer her specific question, even though I knew it was rhetorical.

From Me: @Kathleen, yeah, you don't need permission to enter Mexico if you're American or Canadian. Canadians also don't need permission to enter the US, just Mexicans. Americans and Canadians only need to carry their own government-issued passports as ID and to re-enter their home countries, but only Mexicans are required to get permission by applying for a Visa, issued by US or Canadian consulate. And these are routinely denied, even to family members like grandmothers wishing to visit US-citizen grandchildren, because the Consulate admits the burden of proof is on the applicant against the default assumption she will overstay and not return at the end of the Visa period. When they are approved, it's only in very limited circumstances, usually only to the very rich, powerful, and/or very famous. A small number of people sponsored by companies as temporary workers, but which still have to hire many more without this permit as the quota falls far short of the workers needed, and the required posts advertising the jobs to US citizens first go unanswered. The rules are already unfairly weighted against people from Mexico.

I received some support.
From Aidee: "Laura's right. If the Federal Government was worried about securing our borders to prevent terrorists from entering the country. Why is the Visa Waiver Program still in effect??? Currently, 36 countries participate in the Visa Waiver Program which allows nationals of 36 participating countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. Most are European countries and a few Asian. Ironically one of the 9/11 terrorists obtained a visitor's visa in Berlin, Germany in May 2000."

Among other anti-immigrant sentiments, this next gal had more to say than most. Excerpts of comments
From Margie: " Whenever there are comments on this issue, I see about 95% of liberals who want to let everyone in to the country ("compassion", "love", "what Christians should do", etc.) and use the "race card" every time a conservative suggests that the borders be made secure or that our country is in GREAT danger with ILLEGALS pouring in. Then I see at least 95% of conservatives who want the borders secured...so, how do you choose who is to be legalized? A lottery perhaps? How should all the LEGAL immigrants who had to wait, pay, learn the language, have background checks, and take the citizenship test feel when ILLEGALS are just given citizenship?... The politicians on the left, right, middle are all to blame for the mess this country is in and so are we for letting them get away with so much. I hope everyone remembers that in November and we can get some true representation of the people in Washington, DC. I'm not looking to fight with you or anyone - I just want my country back!"

More lobs back and forth from her and many others, and I'm sure you all are familiar with the talking-points, so I'll go straight to my next comment.
From Me: "I've noticed on many threads like these that there is a lot of ignorance and confusion about "amnesty," voting rights, and citizenship. There are several levels of legal presence before becoming a full citizen able to vote, which takes years, no matter which political party hopes to gain their vote. Really people. Amnesty does NOT mean citizenship, and that means they can't vote for anyone, so the rhetoric about Dems wanting more voters for themselves is bunk and only shows a complete lack of knowledge of the immigration system. But most of what I see in these discussions are continuous repetition of the same misinformation and misunderstandings on the issue.

It's like the "anchor baby" thing -- a minor cannot sponsor a parent to be legally present in the US, so that would mean some grand scheme to duck and hide, evading arrest and deportation for almost 20 years, hoping IF that child grows up to make enough money to qualify as an immigrant's sponsor (yes there is an economic test for those wanting to bring someone up) AND their documentation is sufficient AND they can pass the interviews, background checks, and health screenings, THEN they may be granted legal resident status, which is still not citizenship, still no voting-rights. And besides Karl Rove's disastrous-but-successful long-term vision for Dubya's political crowning, neither political party seems to have much of a plan past the upcoming November elections.

But in a separate box, I had to speak specifically to Margie's last sentence.
From Me: Margie - "I just want my country back!" Yeah, no need to read any more to know where that's coming from. What's so ironic is that Mexicans are overwhelmingly Native American, especially the ones coming in illegally to work, but they are being called the invaders. They have more right to be there than any other ethnicity in Arizona. The same brown skin and black hair that gets them profiled also testifies to their Native American heritage, and many have ancestors who lived in what is the southwest US, going back long before there were any European-imposed political borders. But Operation Wetback in the 1950s rounded up and forcibly removed many of them, including US citizens whose families had already been there when the land first became American territory. So who wants their country back? Racist Whites a-feared of the uppity Black man in the White House and the scary Brown people multiplying so fast, WASPs wiil be a minority! Oh NOES! This country was built with the blood and on the backs of ethnic slavery, subjugation, and genocide. Maybe the ones who sacrificed the MOST for this country would like to have a say in running things for awhile.

So she answered.
From Margie: "Laura - since my tax dollars pay for all the services that are given to people who are in my country illegally, I certainly have a right to be frustrated and to voice my opinion. If you want to believe that people coming into the country have more of a right to it than you do, well - that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. While you go on and on and on about racist whites being afraid of the black man in the White House and scary brown people, I'm just laughing. I am sick to death of hearing it. I am not a racist, I am not afraid of black people or brown people - I am afraid of the ignorance of people. A land without law CANNOT stand, and we are suffering as a country right now. As a nation, we do more for other nations than any other, we're always there in times of crisis to help everyone, so if you want to spend all your time going back in history and dwelling on the injustices that were done, you go ahead. You cannot FIX past offenses - you can only try to do better in the present. I personally did not abuse the American Indian, nor did I own slaves. I try to be a good person by helping others and by obeying the law. I'm so sick of people taking some moral high ground by calling others racists when it has NOTHING to do with race and everything to do with the LAW."

From Me: Margie - US immigration policy has been racist from the beginning, and is still evident in the fact (posted in this thread earlier, but apparently you missed it) that people from Mexico, even those just trying to visit their US CITIZEN family members, have different rules and barriers than those from Canada. The reality is they ARE treated differently, more restricted than people coming from predominantly "White countries." Of the countries in North America, only Americans and Canadians can travel freely between all 3 with only a passport from their home countries. Mexicans, however, have to apply for an entrance Visa, which are routinely denied, even in the circumstances I mentioned above, and detailed in an earlier post of my own direct experiences.

Whether or not you personally are racist does not counter the fact that the LAW is racist, and to continue supporting it after knowing this is like supporting Jim Crow laws and segregation, once also "The Law," and still claiming that "separate-but-equal" conditions upheld by the Supreme Court should be enforced, on the grounds of it BEING "The Law." An earlier Supreme Court upheld the Fugitive Slave Act as "The Law," criminalizing Abolitionists in Free states who didn't return people escaping slavery to their "masters," and also the actions of Harriet Tubman and others of the Underground Railroad. No thanks, I'd rather side with the logic of Dr. King on this one, identifying when laws are unjust themselves, and striking them down.

"The History of Racial Exclusion in the US Immigration Laws" --
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/immigr09.htm

Speaking of ignorance, illegal immigrants DO pay taxes, not only in property taxes, sales taxes, fees related to vehicle licensing and operation, and payroll taxes that, unlike citizens and legal residents, will NOT be partially refundable to them, so much that the Soc. Sec Administration estimates they subsidize the support of citizens like us to the tune of BILLIONS of dollars.

"Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions" -- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&position

"Illegal Immigrants are Paying a Lot More Taxes Than You Think" -- http://reason.org/news/show/122411.html

From Wayne: "Whoever wrote "The History of Racial Exclusion in the US Immigration Law" cherry-picked only those points that supported his goal in writing this piece, leaving out about 95% of the facts that should have been included to make it a bona fide history...Since the begining of the US, more Hispanics have immigrated into the US than any other group... Hispanic is considered an ethnic group not a race...Through most of US History, my ancestors were non-white. Now all of a sudden, I'm white. At least that's what people call me."

From Jan: "Hispanics include Spaniards though, correct? I haven't read "The History of Racial Exclusion in the US Immigration Law" yet, but when I searched for the word "Hispanic" it was not in there, also, I can't find an instance where someone has used the word Hispanic as opposed to Mexican (in the last 40 or so comments) except in the case where you just brought it up now, Wayne.
Mexicans can be Hispanics but not all Hispanics are Mexican. I don't know how that may change your claims, but it's a completely different statistic when groups from Europe and Mexico are counted versus Mexicans only. It inflates the numbers and is generally misleading, also Hispanic individuals do not necessarily have to be from Spain or Mexico, they could be citizens of another country but be Hispanic, and like you said, it's an ethnic group, not a race, so there may well be Hispanics from Canada, Europe, Asia, virtually every continent and country any Hispanic resides in, immigrating to America and not all of them will necessarily look the same.
Also, just curious, but what facts did the author of "The History of Racial Exclusion in the US Immigration Law" leave out exactly?"

From Me: Hispanics are not from Spain, though their ancestors may have been. Below are several more links that may be helpful. But the charge of racism applies because the Hispanics being profiled are the Mestizos of Mexico and Latin America, with mixed European and Native American ancestry. That heritage gives them the black hair, brown skin, and other distictive features that profile and prompt ID requests of
this guy -- http://dbacon.igc.org/Imgrants/limonerosbig/13

this guy -- https://www.asmp.org/images/members/2181/12665-lg.jpg

this guy -- http://www.interfaithact.org/sites/interfaithact.org/files/images/ScottRobertsonImmokalee61.jpg

and these guys -- http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2323/2267853457_e2c4b8cd78.jpg?v=0

but NOT this guy -- http://www.kennesaw.edu/ur/test/pages/jb%201585-388_jpg.htm

"Chicanos as a Racialized Minority" -- http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01race/hispanic01.htm

"Directive 15 and Immigrant Analogy" -- http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01race/race07.htm

"Definition of Hispanic" -- http://www.rice.edu/projects/HispanicHealth/Courses/mod1/hispanic-sk.html

And people, quit with the whole "Mexicans/Hispanics aren't a race, there ARE no races" BS, were not talking about repudiated biological constructs and DNA, this is about perception. You can't argue the KKK isn't a racist organization because "there is no such thing as race."

From Wayne: "@Jan Our founding fathers considered anyone that was not AngoSaxon were non-white. The definition of the word race has changed numerous times in history and several times in the author's book without telling the reader of that fact. If he had used the word bigotry instead of race, it would have been more straight forward. Everyone is bigoted against change, people who look or talk different. Not all people act on this bigotry, but we all have it. Using the word bigotry gives power to everyone to stop these policies. Using the word race makes it a case of us vs them, rendering everyone powerless. Using the word race puts the power into someone else's hand. In the case of AZ's policy to check on whether a person is an American citizen if stopped for another crime has led everyone to call each other names. We are pawns, distracted from the real purpose of this legislation. The politicians have control of our minds; they are manipulating us. We are their puppets. We are suppose to be watching them, voting for the right candidate, but we are too distracted to be rational. The politicians win, we lose a war we didn't even know was happening. Everyone suffers and we then think it is only our "race" that is suffering."

From Jan: "Laura-- "A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish Culture."
Spanish culture includes those of Spain. Wayne is right though, race isn't the point, it's physical appearance of the individuals and bigotry works a lot better as the main issue. Phenotype--not origin. That's one of the issues of the bill, that people might get stopped based on what they look like--it doesn't matter what race they actually are. Your links show that not all Hispanics (they don't necessarily have to have Native American roots) look the same. They have varying appearances--thus, the ones who look the general stereotype in their appearance are the ones targeted.
And yeah, we're always the politician's pawns in some way or another...at least as long as we try remembering that when we're voting, we might be able to make good decisions."

From Wayne: "@Laura..This is about perception. Race is a fuzzy set. I live in a concrete world. You live in an abstract world. I learned race as a scientific theory. It's hard to change. I need something tangable to work with. I would agree that the KKK is a racist organizaton. I would also say that anyone who believes that there are different races would be a racist. This term for racists would be a benign definition of racist, different from your definition of racist. I actually don't know your definition of racist and I probably wouldn't understand your definition because it is from your perception...I grew up in New Mexico. I was, when walking alone, routinely accosted by hispanics and their primos. They never really hurt me, just pushed me around, punched me a few times, said words like gringo, puta, chinga. Were they racists? Nah, they were just having fun. They could have really hurt me if they wanted. One day someone punched me in the face in the cafeteria line. On reaction, I broke his nose. I didn't mean to. It just happened. From then on, these same hispanics were my best buds. That's perception...Also, I heard words that sounded like "shingle edie." Maybe you would translate these words for me. Maybe they thought I was a "WASP." I'm not white. I'm not Anglo. I'm not Saxon. Most protestants tell me I'm going to Hell. What is my race? Maybe I don't have one...I had the police come up to me in AZ because someone thought I was fat, ugly, unshaven with long hair hanging out in a place where someone like me shouldn't be, next to a bank. Is that perception or profiling?...@Laura.. All six of my grandchildren are of a different race than me if I go by your definition of race. Perception... Maybe if we quit belaboring our differences and look to our similarities."

And this is my last comment on this thread as of this blog post, but it's really, REALLY long, so I may go back and break this whole damn mess up into separate blog entries.

From Me: Jan, thanks for checking the links I provided, many people don't even bother. But it did specify the Spanish are considered like the French, Germans. etc., and that "Hispanic" as a demographic refers to those from a Spanish CULTURE of the "New World." Like how European French aren't Creole. It basically distinguishes people who are from regions originally under Spanish rule vs English colonies, French Colonies, even Dutch colonies like Aruba. I used the pictures to back my point of perception, because Dominicans like Sammy Sosa are Hispanic, but people that look like him aren't the ones that pop into the minds of most railing against "Illegals." Neither would be the blond Juan Hernandez whose photo I gave the link for. The overwhelming majority of people coming from Spanish-culture regions in the western hemisphere, as I said, are Mestizo with significant Native American ethnicity, especially those coming from Mexico and Central America as the "unskilled" labor desperately looking for work. I know we need another word to replace "racist" but bigot won't do, as it's too generic and can apply towards homophobes, sexists, anti-Semites, and a host of other villains.

Wayne, I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say. I live in a in an all too hard, brains-splatter-when-you-hit-the-pavement concrete world, not abstract, but just because I know there is no biological basis for the concept of race, doesn't mean others most likely to have problems with people of color understand that. And they are the ones causing all the turmoil. Most sane people in the US now agree that there is nothing biologically different about Jewish or Irish people, but that wasn't always the case, proven by the political cartoons and rhetoric from publications 100 years ago. That's why I said it was about perception.

I know there's no such thing and YOU know there's no such thing as race, but when my father and his wife saw a photo of my daughter with her prom date, now my son-in-law, they both clucked about "race mixing," that my grandparents would turn over in their graves, and that it could lead to the introduction of Sickle Cell Anemia to White folks. It's that same perception that kept "inter-racial" marriage illegal in many states, including mine, until the Supreme Court had to overturn laws against it. It's what get's my son-in-law pulled over by cops when my daughter is in their car, to demand proof that he isn't corrupting a minor. They had to show both their IDs because the cops refused to believe them when told she was 19 and they were married. (She's 22 and the baby in the back may curb that now, but they still get pulled over.) It's why my my fair blue-eyed blonde daughter has people question whether or not my new granddaughter is really hers. It's why people gave my very dark, very Native American Mexican husband weird looks when he went places with my daughter, and why people are surprised to find my big White red-headed carcass produced my 2 younger browner kids.

The point is it's not MY definition of race, it's my acknowledging that others' behaviors and opinions are based on THEIR definitions of race, which is why I said PERCEPTION. The Inquisition PERCEIVED that they were justified in torturing and killing people as God's work, and even thought WE know it was complete bunk, those people were still just as maimed and dead. It was the Nazis' PERCEPTION that Jews, Gypsies, Gays, the disabled, and anyone else they deemed "inferior" were a danger to "polluting" the German "master race," and this PERCEPTION, though absolute batshit, was shared by enough people to lead to the horror of the Holocaust. And there are still people alive who lived through segregation; whether THEY perceived race didn't matter, enough people did that kept separate-but-equal and white-only water fountains the law of the land in many placces until, once again, the Supreme Court had to step in and declare it unconstitutional, but even then, not on the grounds that the concept of race isn't based in biological fact, but simply that the maintenence of 2 systems resulted in inequality.

I wish we did have another word besides "racist," but I can't think of one that would be universally recognized. Colorist? But that means the gal who touches up my gray roots. Even xenophobe isn't always applicable, as it's not the bushey-blond 'stache of Juan Hernandez (linked in previous post) that is in the mind of people using language like "hoard" of "invading aliens." It includes people born and raised here in the US that have been wrongfully "deported" to Mexico, or many more routinely held on suspicion of being illegal-immigrants because of their brown skin and black hair, usually, but not always with a Spanish name. And it's not ME that would say the members of my family are different races, but a majority of Americans do, which has a big impact on our environment, laws that govern us, and therefore impacts our lives.

The vast majority of Americans would look at us and see my oldest daughter and myself as White, my son-in-law as Black, my husband as Mexican, Hispanic, and/or Native American (here in VA they always ask if he's Cherokee!), and our younger kids they aren't sure about unless they see my husband or hear their names. My granddaughter is only 4 mos. old, so it's hard to tell how her features will develop, but with her parents' good looks, she's already gorgeous. Like Halle Berry, Vanessa Williams, and Prez Obama, she may choose to identify as Black or African-American, as do many here that have mixed ancestry that also includes European and Native American. But I agree with you, I hope that 2 decades from now, when she enters adulthood, these labels are as antiquated and obscure as "mulatto", "quadroon", and "high-yellow."

Birth of a notion - My experiment to share my posts from other comment threads.

2010-07-19T15:10:00.000-04:00

I have been neglecting this blog for awhile, as Facebook links and discussions have monopolized my time, as well as less frequent visits to the Twitterverse. I've found enough people to argue with and educate on FB and Huffington Post threads, that it's actually been quite time-consuming, but I have an idea. I've been posting rather long, detailed comments to Facebook threads, mostly on the topic of immigration, but also a couple others, and I'm going to try posting a few of these here, along with some replies and comments from people I'm directly responding to or referencing, to provide context. I had done something similar in the past, but as wall posts, especially to share some threads from Huff Po sites. But then they'd get lost down the wall after a few days and I hope this way, I can keep my wit and wisdom more accessible. At least to me. And maybe some of you all will even want to share it around, because so much of the info I discuss, specifically on immigration issue, needs more exposure to refute common myths and misinformation. So, I know some of the links are bound to be repeated, but it still seems like too many people aren't getting the message and are spreading the ignorance around. If anyone is out there, let me know what you think. And for anyone wondering about my husband (hospitalization discussed in older posts), he's doing pretty well and back to work at the farm. But it's an unpredictable condition, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

My Response Comment on HuffPo Article: "Securing Our Future Through Our Children's Health" by Sec. Tom Vilsack

2010-02-24T08:10:00.004-05:00

Will Sec. Vilsack, the USDA, and the First Lady protest hard against the plan to eliminate free/reduced-priced school breakfast program for low-income students by our new VA Gov. Bob McDonnell? Oh, and he also plans to freeze enrollment for the FAMIS program, which gives limited coverage to kids and pregnant women in low-income families earning too much to qualify for Medicaid. That means WORKING parents GROSSING more than $2500 but less than $3675/month for a family of 4. But hey, we only rank a low "39th on taxes as a percentage of personal income" despite ranking "5th in average per capita income," so the well-off needn't worry about supporting pesky, undeserving freeloaders! (even if they are working their asses off full-time for peanuts.) So what if kids are too hungry or sickly to do well enough in school to raise above their station, always need an underclass of peasants desperate enough to do the hard and dirty work, right? When they drop dead from no healthcare as adults, just toss more meat into the grinder!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

UPDATE to Last Post Re: My Husband in the Hospital

2010-02-01T06:15:00.004-05:00

I received calls this past Friday morning from both my US Representative's and Senator's offices. I now know I was feverish and quite possibly riding a wave of delirium when I composed my previous entry, with my high temperature peaking Thursday night after I posted it and went to bed. It still hovered around 100 degrees after waking up and I hope I sounded coherent on the phone. The fever lasted through Saturday, and with the big storm leaving me still snowed in, I haven't been able to see my husband in several days.

The original addressee forwarded the above in it's entirety to the offices in an email, 7 pages, and they must think I'm a loon, but they asked me to send them my mother-in-law's info, saying they would contact the US Consulate in Mexico to try and help us obtain an expedited appointment to apply for an emergency visitor Visa. The American wife of my brother-in-law was directly involved with helping his and my husband's mom the first time, and still has some of the documentation and information from before, so I've asked her to take over this appeal to the Consulate.

In the meantime, my husband is worse. Whether it was missed the first time last week or developed after hospital admission, he's now diagnosed with severe pancreatitis -- pancreatic necrosis with fluid around it, which has a mortality rate of 10-30%. Many medical websites I've read on this advanced stage of the condition state "patients with severe acute pancreatitis...should be...in ICU" (as quoted from two sites I linked earlier, but will repeat HERE and HERE), but this hospital just has him in a regular room. His blood pressure and white blood counts are still high, and we've been told he also has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, pleurisy of the left lung, and has tipped over into full-blown diabetes, of which there is an increased risk after an acute pancreatitis attack. We're waiting on tests to confirm or rule out a kidney infection, which is another related complication, as is kidney failure.

His feet are swollen so it's difficult for him to walk, but they've put him back on button-pump pain med, so he's a little more comfortable and can sleep some. They stopped giving him a clear liquid diet and put him back on IV only, but the doctors still don't know the original cause. His job is physically demanding, and he's always been muscular, strong superman that could handle anything. We don't eat much in the way of processed or "junk" food, more fresh basic ingredients, especially because he likes to cook and makes authentic Mexican food with corn tortillas, fresh produce, and lean meats, not Americanized glop covered in sour cream and melted cheese.

Earlier in the week, the nurse mentioned plans to do a MRCP test (referred to in original post), used to discover the source of a blockage when ultrasound and CT scans don't show gallstones (that's when I first heard about it and did a web search to find out what it was), but when I asked a doctor later he said they probably wouldn't do it, because it was expensive and they know he doesn't have insurance. So when I found out yesterday that he had gotten much worse, and the cause was still unknown, I asked about it again, including "how expensive?" and a different doctor (on the weekend shift) said around $2000. I told my mom, and she is going to tell them she'll pay for the test out of her retirement savings.

The doctor had also said my husband will need to stay on an IV and have regular home visits by a nurse for a couple months after being discharged, which we would have no way to pay for, so he planned to speak to the hospital office people (don't know their title) to see if my husband might qualify for some sort of program like Medicaid. But I doubt it, because it usually doesn't cover non-citizens unless they have some sort of refugee/asylum status, or are elderly and/or totally and permanently disabled, and have been here a very long time, qualifying for Social Security. Luckily my husband has a couple weeks paid vacation time stored because he almost never takes off, he's hardly ever sick, so I can keep bills paid this month. The tax refund will keep us floating a little while longer, but I don't know what happens next. Right now I just hope he makes it home.

Husband in Hospital, my Mexican Mother-in-Law needs Visitor's Visa ASAP

2010-01-28T18:27:00.019-05:00

The following is my reply in a series of Facebook direct messages between a local community leader and myself, regarding assistance in obtaining a US Visa for my husband's mother to visit him in the hospital, where he is seriously ill:

Hi, thanks for getting back to me on finding help for my Mexican mother-in-law to get permission to come visit my husband in the hospital. Here's my contact info and details of the situation. If you check my FB profile "Wall", I have regular updates beginning Sunday night (or Monday morning) about my husband's condition, "acute pancreatitis with extensive peripancreatic edema and inflammation."

They've given him some heavy pain meds along with anti-biotics and blood-pressure medicine, and now he's receiving breathing treatments trying to head off pneumonia, but after multiple labs and tests, including a chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound, and CT scan, the doctors still can't find the cause. The two most common ones are gallstones, which they haven't been able to see so far, and being a raging alcoholic binge drinker. While not a teetotaler, his imbibing is pretty much limited to a couple beers on the weekend, and not every weekend even then. They're planning on doing a MRCP (Magnetic Resonance to watch swallowed liquid to see if there's a blockage down the pipes), but have to wait until pancreas inflammation goes down, so he's being kept on a minimal clear-liquid diet.

He's been in the hospital since Sunday night and has no insurance, so our next address may be a cardboard box behind Walmart when it's all over, but for now we're at (omitted.) Our address will be changing eventually anyway, because the trailer park has put up new street signs, and everyone will be getting a new house number and street name instead of just being a lot # with the same common address of the main road at the park entrance. But not until the Post Office tells us it's officially been changed, and I'm sure anything with the old address will still be sent here.

The details about our unsuccessful saga to get my mother-in-law a visitor's Visa from the US Consulate are more than a few sentences, and my concentration is shot, but I'll try to be coherent. My husband had left Mexico to join his brothers here in VA when he and I met. We married in 1997, and in 1998 our son was born and my husband was granted Temporary Resident status because we'd been married less than 2 years. He had to wait and apply to make it permanent 2 years later, so INS could verify we were still together. (In case you didn't know, this is a step up from basic "Employee Authorization" card, which he already held.) Its holders file regular 1040 tax returns instead of special IRS form for non-residents allowed to work in US. Our daughter was born in 2000 and the same year his status was approved as a legal Permanent Resident, which he will have to renew in 2012. (Links I've provided are to current procedures, some of which have changed since we went through the process, and are now more cumbersome with longer waits. ICE-Immigration and Customs Enforcement was created, spun off from old INS agency in 2003, and applications for visits, immigration, and residency of foreign nationals are now handled by the US Dept. of Homeland Security.)

We've been trying pretty much since then to jump thru hoops to get his mom approved to visit from Mexico. She had to travel several days away from their small town in the mountains and spend a lot of pesos (and dollars) to get the paperwork for her Mexican passport, as well as documentation that the US Consulate needed for her visitor's Visa application. We, along with her other 3 sons who are also legal Permanent Residents of the US, had to send additional documents and affidavits of support, and she was given an appointment, for a non-refundable fee, with the Consulate, only to be told she needed MORE stuff, and another appointment. She had to bring proof that she had ties that would ensure her return to Mexico at the end of her Visa period, and she gathered documentation of her home-ownership, partnership in running a small store, and the numerous children and grandchildren in her hometown.

Again, this is very far from her home, and as an elderly woman with her own health problems, this was a hardship. At one point during all this, she and another son that was helping her were kidnapped by Los Zetas -- yes, the gang reported on TV for kidnapping and killing hostages when not paid, even young children, and many like my in-laws with no ties to the drug trade. They were kept blindfolded with a group of others held hostage until we could all scrape up the $1500 in ransom money. She was beaten. My brother-in-law was beaten and had his arm broken. They could hear the screams of others, many of whom were tortured with electric shocks. When she finally got to that 2nd US Consulate appointment, it was only to be DENIED because she has 4 sons who are here LEGALLY!! Forget that she has several other children still in Mexico, including the one tortured trying to help her get here, and many other grandchildren besides the FOUR CITIZENS BORN HERE who have never been able to meet their grandmother.

That's why I want to punch Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio in their smug racist faces, see what "doing it legally" gets you? See why there really is no "wait your turn" if you're from Mexico? Oh, and my son has a friend from another country that moved here with his parents a couple years ago. When they had only been here a few months, the grandparents were able to come right up to visit, as were the families of several other-than-Mexican guests attending a birthday party for my son's friend. While talking with the father of a new baby, he mentioned to me how his mother was coming up to the US to help his wife for awhile, and when I said I wished my mother-in-law could come visit, he thought I meant she was afraid to fly. After I explained how she was denied permission to enter the US, he was surprised and perplexed at why this different standard was being applied. But then, they're all upper-middle class internationals and connected to VA Tech, as faculty and grad-students.

With Blacksburg being a multi-national town due to VT, there are many stories like this, with immigrants and their visitors from OTHER countries able to come and go easily and repeatedly, but not if you're working-class and from Mexico. For the latter, it's go on a scavenger hunt and get tortured so the US can slam the door in your face, and still charge a fee! If my husband had been from Canada across our northern border, my mother-in-law could come right over, but since they're from Mexico, even though it's our only other bordering country, the rules are not the same.

And now my husband's in the hospital and he hasn't seen his mother in 15 years. You asked me before if we were interested in helping Democrats with Hispanic outreach. This population is growing exponentially, and not only from immigration but also higher birth rates compared to the overall population. That means BORN HERE. CITIZENS. VOTERS. And they will remember how their relatives were treated, family members they never got to know. Did you read the story in Tuesday's paper about a German couple granted friggin political asylum(!) by a US immigration judge to stay here because they are uber-Christians wanting to home-school their kids exclusively, and that isn't allowed by German law? Contrast that with our situation, and the thousands of others from countries not so Caucasian and/or wealthy. The history of US policy toward Haitians is an immediate and shameful example, as is our resistance to granting asylum to female victims of abuse, including genital mutilation, many of whom are women of color from countries rating high on the "Visa refusal" list.

Kids of immigrants will remember who helped them, and who demonized their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and all Hispanics by association. I know Politics tends to pander to short-term interests, but we're talking only 10-15 years into the future. My son and his cousin can vote in 6 years, their 2 younger sisters in 8 years. What's that, only 2-3 presidential election cycles? So just 2 LEGAL Permanent Residents originally from Mexico sired 4 voters, whose elderly grandmother was tortured trying to visit them, and was denied entry because this elderly woman in her late-60s MIGHT "overstay?" What, to "steal" someone's cleaning-lady job? or get on public benefits even though they are specifically BARRED to most non-Citizens, and all non-legal residents?

No, all kids of targeted immigrants won't become activists, apathy is universal. But enough mostly-Hispanic farm-workers got fired up to rally and force real change and better conditions when Cesar Chavez led them to organize unions against Big Agri-Business. Remember my telling you of how our Montgomery County Schools Superintendent left it up to teachers whether or not to show President Obama's speech, and how as a result many not only didn't air it, but also didn't tell parents ahead of time that they wouldn't, only felt obligated to inform us if they planned to show it so Obamaphobic parents could "opt out"? My son's 6th grade teacher for that class period was one who not only didn't show it, she in fact didn't even mention it occurred, like some alternate reality, and after talking to her about the absurdity of the unequal notice and options, I worked my way up through the principal of Blacksburg Middle (same self-righteous attitude), then the Superintendent himself, who said he didn't see any problem and that we should just watch it on the internet, insinuating I also invite the majority of working-poor I live among in this trailer park to join us in our rented single-wide. 'Cause really, there aren't any people in Montgomery County who can't afford home computers and internet service! (Note: in 2008, 23% of county residents were living below poverty level where 89% of total residents were White, and 35% of public school students were approved for free/reduced-price lunches.)

I bring this all back up, because that racially-tinged controversy made my son more aware. It made us go "hmm..." later when the work-packet this teacher put together constantly used the term "Indians" instead of Native Americans when studying US history, as my son strongly identifies with this heritage from his indigenous father (who's always asked if he's Cherokee, except the one yahoo at a Pow-Wow that asked if he was Aztec.) Then yesterday, he came home from school and told me she made a color-coded map to show the different regions added to the US as it expanded across the continent. The part marked "Mexican Cession" was brown. In an isolated context, it might have earned a passing "WTF?", but coming on the heels of the previous experiences, it made him whisper "racist bitch" under his breath. Luckily, no one heard him, but my son felt strongly enough to discuss it with a classmate afterward. Anyone acquainted with my son at school knows him to be the most conscientious, studious, easy-going, polite kid, and would be shocked to hear that come from him. He won an award (with a savings bond!) for citizenship at his 5th grade "graduation," and his grades are mostly A's with an occasional B or two. But he was pissed. Even I was surprised at his strong reaction, then proud of his restraint. I would have spat it out-loud in her face.

So here's a US Citizen aware that his dad is a marginalized Mexican immigrant who has done nothing but work his ass off to support 4 US-born Americans: a now-disabled gringa (me), our 2 kids, and my daughter from a previous marriage, because she was abandoned by a Republican wet-dream: US-born-and-bred White male, born-again-Christian conservative who has spent the last 21 years of my eldest daughter's life working "under the table" to avoid paying child-support (we had married when I turned 18, after she was born because I became pregnant at 17, he was 21, and our divorce was filed before her 1st birthday.) Oh, and since she and her husband can vote now, that's 2 more, and before I forget, my brother-in-law having 2 kids born here also has a US-born step-daughter, so I guess that brings our tally up to 8 voting citizens who owe their support to just 2 Mexican immigrants.

Sorry, went off on another tangent, but it's almost 11am as I'm finishing this (I've been up all night after returning from the hospital), and it's been pent up awhile. That previous line of thought was to point out, if my son's like this now, how do you think he'll be at 18? Who do you think he, and others he's sure to raise awareness in, will vote for? campaign for? donate to? stomp down like a flaming paper bag of racist dogshit? (hint: Sarah too-many-brown-folks-in-Hawaii Palin, anyone who called Justice Sotomayor a racist and compared La Raza to the KKK, SC Lt. Gov. Bauer who said the program providing poor kids free and reduced-price school lunches was like feeding stray animals that would only breed...)

Which brings me back, finally, to the immediacy of my family's situation. My husband has been in the hospital since being admitted through the ER Sunday night, and as it's now officially Thursday morning, that's 5 days so far, with no idea how much longer. With no health insurance, and a gross annual income of less that $30,000 working a full-time job to support our family of four, we could not only be the poster-family for immigration reform, but also for healthcare reform. The least the damn US Consulate can do is let his mom come visit her seriously ill son in the hospital. I doubt she'll be a risk to "overstay," as I don't think there'll be enough room for her when we're bankrupt from paying off the medical bills and have to move into that box behind Walmart.

Thanks for reading my rant (if you're eyes haven't already glazed over) ~ Laura Hernandez

P.S. After working so much on this reply to you, which is way more than I intended, FB told me my message was too long to send, so I decided to post it on my "Cranium Stew" blog. There's a lot here that might personalize these issues and inform many out there who "just don't get it," especially if their opinions are not based on malice, but merely ignorance and misinformation. So that's why I've withheld most names, to protect the innocent, the guilty, and those who don't want to be sued.

Take 2 on "Illegal Alien" Halloween Costume

2009-10-20T10:25:00.006-04:00

(This was posted to address respondents to my first comment on the USA Today article "'Illegal Alien' mask flap spooks retailers" http://content.usatoday.com/community/comments.aspx?id=36565726.story&p=7 )

I realized when I posted my first comment that it would have too many words and be over the heads of those folks that use any excuse to demonize people and hurl insults at Democrats, "libs," President Obama, or whomever else they fear are circling their homes in black helicopters. The scared and pathetic always need an enemy to direct their venomous delusions toward.

To "digitaldon37," drivers who have made that "illegal right turn" are not called "illegals," the issue isn't describing an ACTIVITY as illegal, such as illegal immigration, it's applying it to a person, which is not done to people who have broken any other laws, which is why I used "murderer" to make my point. Rapists, burglars, Wall Street embezzlers, hit-and-run drivers, whatever, substitute any other law breaker and they are never referred to as an "illegal."

To "lipstickonapig," of course I read all the comments posted before mine, and it was the same old tired, hateful, xenophobic garbage that followed it. That is what prompted me to respond with such detail. The statement "whether YOU (meaning me) consider our borders civil or criminal is not the issue" is ridiculous, because it is the LAW that defines immigration violations as civil, not me, you, or the KKK. You've also given yourself away that you're a racist and you didn't really read my "overblown tutorial" from your statement "It's not that americans won't do those jobs, it's just that they are not stupid enough to do the job for less than it's worth, like your gente. What it comes down to, is you sound like just another one of those ignorant latinos that was fooled into voting for Obama because he "promised" to reform the immigration laws of this country and give these latin moochers a free ride."

I specifically said I'm a W.A.S.P. with ancestry from when this country was only colonies, and if you don't know what that means, I'll get even more specific: I'm Scots-Irish-Anglo-Saxon with red hair, hazel eyes, and fair skin that doesn't tan. And once again, you associate "illegal immigrants" with Hispanic/Latino, when most of these in the US aren't even immigrants, legal or otherwise, they're native-born, and there are large numbers of immigrants you would classify as illegal from Asia, as well as a sizable number from Ireland in the Northeast. But in spite of this and my emphasis that I'm not an immigrant, nor Hispanic or Latino, I still get the typical ignorant responses peppered with "GET OUT", "round them up and send them home... then build the fence between the US and Mexico."

To "scknowsit",and others using crime rates as a strawman, the fact is that immigrants are LESS likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans, and are MORE likely to be crime victims. Two weeks ago, a Hispanic immigrant mother was stabbed during a home invasion and her newborn was kidnapped by a blue-eyed blonde, white female citizen claiming to be with ICE. Thankfully, the baby was found days later, but then TN Children's Services took the baby and her other 3 children into custody "purely for safety reasons" for several days before being returned to their parents, who were "cleared...of any wrongdoing." Cathy Nahirny, senior analyst for infant abduction cases at the National Ctr for Missing & Exploited Children has said there are at least 2 other cases using similar tactics, and that immigrants are targets because it's assumed they won't go to the police. http://www.fox8.com/sns-ap-tenn-newbornsnathced,0,7793079.story
Contrast that with the white family of the girl whose father was convicted in August of her death from "faith-healing" but the other kids were never removed, and the more recent balloonboy-hoax family who still have their kids despite their neglect and exploitation broadcast live on multiple news programs to millions of people.

Of course "scknowsit" is a racist douche who advocates shooting people for civil infractions. Hope he/she doesn't get stopped for a traffic violation, karma could mean death-by-taser from a highly-strung police officer. But bigots don't need reality and facts on their side when they have hate and ignorance to fuel their us-vs-them chest-pounding tribalism. Thankfully, America isn't the island from Lord of the Flies.

My take on the "Illegal Alien" Halloween Costume Controversy

2009-10-20T05:53:00.010-04:00

(Note: This was originally posted as an admittedly long-winded comment on USA Today website article "'Illegal Alien' mask flap spooks retailers" http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-19-halloween-mask_N.htm )

When I first saw the "Illegal Alien" costume, I took it ironically, as it apparently was intended. It was meant to play on the idiocy of the xenophobes, whose dumbassery hasn't failed to disappoint when weighing-in on this issue.

If they'd been able to keep their stupidity in check, they would have noticed the group cited as protesting is "The League of United Latin American Citizens," not "The League of Illegal immigrants sneaking over to date your daughters, harvest your food, and bathe in your agricultural chemicals." (Clarification for wingnuts, that is not a real organization, I made it up. Several previous comments show your continuing inability to separate the reality that Hispanic and Latino are not synonyms for "Illegal Immigrant", or even just "Immigrant.") But it is just this kind of bigotry that causes an increased sensitivity and what I feel was a misguided response by Immigrant and Hispanic advocacy groups. They should have embraced and rallied behind this attempt to expose the absurdity of this term.

The fact that immigration violations are civil, not criminal issues makes calling another person "illegal", whether as an adjective, or in it's increasing use as a noun, inflammatory and misleading. Not only is it NOT used to describe violators of statutes at an equal level of severity, it is also NEVER used to describe people convicted of the most serious felonies. Who is more "illegal", a murderer, or a teenager who risked his life to pick produce for Walmart at $10/day? And the use of the term "alien", regardless of original intent or meaning, is nothing but dehumanizing.

Common cultural usage no longer brings to mind simply "non-native," but beginning at least since Science Fiction became major pop-cultural phenomenon in the 1950s, and UFO sightings and conspiracies have now become cliche'. If someone says "alien plant life," the average American is more likely to conjure up images of the pods from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," or Audrey 2 from "Little Shop of Horrors" instead of the Cherry Blossom trees in Wash. D.C. The movie "Alien" needed nothing else in its title to cue people who never even saw the film that there would be a scary, dangerous creature from another planet killing people.

To address all the attempts to justify it as a "legal term" with a long history in government documents, remember the words "colored" and "negro" have been used frequently in that same legislative history, but are now recognized as out-dated, offensive, and tied to attitudes of bigotry and marginalization. (And yes, I am aware the NAACP has the word "colored" in its name, but as it is 100 years old, would be impractical and confusing to alter it now, especially when identified as much or more by its initials.) What do you think if Lou Dobbs went on CNN and called Barack Obama the nation's first NEGRO president? He'd be out of a job, probably out on his ass. (Then welcomed and given a new prime-time show by FoxNews.)

The term "undocumented immigrant" is more descriptive and accurate than "illegal alien," states the facts without sounding either mean-spirited or touchy-feely. And F.Y.I. for those having a knee-jerk reaction to my Spanish surname, I am of Western-European descent, mostly W.A.S.P., with ancestors who fought in every US war (my mother is in Daughters of the American Revolution) and roots to the original colonies from the 16th century. That shouldn't matter, but seems to for people who are either unaware, or just don't care that the immigration laws they so rabidly worship and use to justify their smugness have always been built upon racism, from when "Congress passed America's first naturalization law in 1790...limited the privilege of US citizenship to 'free white persons'" http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay9text.html
and its continued reflection and domination in later immigration law. http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/immigr09.htm

Don't use me for YOUR propaganda, Caleb Howe!

2009-09-09T12:04:00.012-04:00

This blog post is my response to Caleb Howe, another Twitterer who used one of my "tweets", or Twitter comments as a springboard for his rabid-rightwing blog fodder. What's most disturbing is that he isn't just some anonymous twat in a basement somewhere. No, he's a professional twat.

His bio from Politics Daily:

"Caleb Howe is a Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC-based contributor to Politics Daily. He has been writing about politics, from the conservative point of view, for the past 7 years. In addition to his writing for Politics Daily, Caleb is a Contributing Editor at Redstate.com, Managing Editor of Acticons.com, and a contributing writer for The American Spectator.
Since joining AOL's political team, Caleb has broken several national news stories, and had his work featured on television shows like The O'Reilly Factor and The Glenn Beck Show, as well as in numerous online publications. He covered both political conventions in 2008, and Barack Obama's Inauguration in January.
Caleb is a versatile writer who wields humor, intelligence, and high dudgeon with equal acuity. His biggest flaw is that he cares too much. To clarify, he doesn't care at all, but wishes that it were possible to care even less than that. His videos can be seen at his YouTube channel, and his superb photo-fakery can be seen all over the internet. A husband and father of two, Caleb's hobbies include hunting and inventing ways to kill people that involve parts of their own bodies being used as weapons against them."

Some of the other "numerous online publications" and conservative media contributions/mentions include:
The Minority Report, The Ed Morrissey Show, and NewsBusters. His latest is as "on board blogger and 'eCommunicationsCzar' (yeah...pun intended)" for the American Liberty Tour and its YouTube Vlog, also creating the hashtag #brushfire for its supporters on Twitter.

So, he should know better, he just doesn't care. I know this is a bit of a David-vs-Goliath situation, as I don't have the audience or the forum he has. I've only been on Twitter 6 months, starting this blog only about a month ago. So I doubt few, if any, who read his verbal assault when it was originally posted will see this, my rebuttal. But it's worth a try.

To @CalebHowe:

After being mostly absent from Twitter for two weeks, busy with the start of the new school year and my daughters' multiple doctors' appointments, I returned a couple of days ago to discover you had inexplicably blocked me. When I sent out a question as to why, a follower sent me a link to your RedState blog page as a probable explanation.

http://www.redstate.com/absentee/2009/08/28/respect-the-dead/

It's so malicious and slimy of you to use my tweet out-of-context as the feature target for your diatribe. You know that it had little to do with the politics of Novak OR Kennedy, I would have said the same for either of them, even Michael Jackson. I wasn't talking to you, and you never responded to ask me, you just blocked me like a coward so I couldn't know you were going to steal my words. Days before, you and I had a lengthy debate on healthcare, where I told you of my personal situation and struggles. When you asserted my life wasn't the "real world", I reached out and invited you to my home to meet my family. I gave you my trust and respect in revealing painful experiences and you've twisted it into this ugly, vile thing you've authored.

You know my comment was about our culture's media-circus surrounding the deaths of celebrities, the elite, and the bizarre while millions of invisible nobodies suffer and die in silence. It had nothing to do with Novak-vs-Kennedy, I could care less. Two really old dudes with access to the best of care died after long, fulfilling, privileged lives. This televised fanfare is ridiculous whether it's about Democrats, Republicans, or Princess Di, yet it got way more coverage than the thousands that lined up for Remote Area Medical clinic in L.A., newly added to years of VA and TN clinics they've held on fairgrounds, treating people in livestock stalls.

YOU made this a partisan issue, YOU are creating hate where there was none, at least not from me. I won't speak for the others, because that is where you and I are different. Caleb Howe, you are a hypocrite, accusing others of the very hate-mongering you have created. You have abused the fellowship I extended to you, and it is YOU and this personal violation that makes the online environment toxic.

The reason this is not posted as direct reply to your blog site, as originally intended was
1. I assumed you'd delete it automatically, as you went out of your way to keep me from discovering it, even deleting DM you sent apologizing to me for tone of last conversation (to which I DMd you back a "no-problem", everything's cool response.) and
2. I was creeped out by sign-up page language on RedState site, and sign-up required to post.

Caleb Howe, you have misrepresented and exploited my speech in attempt to justify your own paranoia and bias, and projected upon me the hatred and contempt YOU feel toward others with whom you disagree. I never made that assumption about you, believed even though we have different views, we were both parents who wanted the best for our kids and our country, both good people at heart trying to do our best. You'll never know how truly sad it makes me to discover I was wrong.

I tweeted this remark shortly after 1pm that day, following an entire morning, beginning before 6am, talking continuously about the healthcare debate, and how frustrated I was that I couldn't attend my Congressman's townhall meeting taking place that day. My tweet was sent Aug 18th, your blog post date is the 28th, and it bothered you SO MUCH you waited 10 days to say anything. This wasn't about respecting the dead, you only got pissed because so many were sad Kennedy died, unlike the passing of Novak. You're just a zealot throwing a tantrum.

Laura Hernandez AKA: @LaBrujaRoja

Healthcare Reform: Letter to my U.S. Congressman -- Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA)

2009-08-21T15:39:00.017-04:00

I am writing on behalf of my family, to tell you of our struggles with the current healthcare system and why we are strong supporters of single-payer coverage for everyone, financed though taxes like Medicare. We believe healthcare should be treated not as a corporate commodity, but as a community necessity, like police and fire departments, transportation, and public schools, but with federal funding so that members of less affluent communities have the same access to care.

On your website you state a preference for a "co-op" instead of a public option, but that provision is needed for working-class people who are above income limits to qualify for Medcaid and still can't afford health insurance. My family is in that category, with my younger kids qualifying for Medicaid, but my oldest left with nothing after turning 19. She has several health issues, including a genetic condition inherited from me, that isn't disabling if monitored and managed, but needs daily prescription medication. After years without adequate treatment, my condition progressed until I am now on SSI with Medicaid, but I would rather have had access to care and not have become disabled in the first place. Ironically, that now qualifies me for healthcare which, if available when I was still relatively healthy, would've allowed me to now be productive and able to work, better able to take care of my kids, and would cost less to the govenrment for my medical treatment.

My husband works at least 40-50 hours a week, but has no coverage, relying on the free clinic with it's limited resources and services to treat his high-blood pressure and other health issues. His net income is only $1800/month for our family of four, and after bills, food, and gas to get to work, we're barely able to break even, much less pay for health insurance, even a "co-op." My adult daughter and her husband have a similar situation. He works full-time at a factory, also can't afford insurance, and she has a pronounced sensory/learning disability that makes it hard to find work. Plus any additional income, even from a fast food job, would put her over the free clinic's limit, and she'd have no health care or the medicine she needs.

The free clinic income ceiling is currently $18,941 for a family of two and $28,665 for four, so there are hoards of people who don't even have that option and still can't afford insurance. Free clinics also have limited services not even equivalent to a basic general practitioner, is not adequate for those with more than the most basic of needs, and does not cover emergency or in-patient services. That was my only resource when I broke my ankle and spent almost 2 weeks unable to walk before I could be treated, hoping it was just a bad sprain. My husband has been a valued employee at a small family-owned business for 13 years, and almost every year, his employer asks us to find out how much he can give in a small raise that won't knock us out of his free clinic eligibility, and the kids' and mine for Medicaid. It's usually not more than about $10/week, which no where near balances rising costs.

My youngest child also has my genetic medical condition and needs to take medicine and have levels monitored frequently with blood tests. She has the same sensory/learning disability as my adult daughter, along with some developmental issues for which she has been in therapy since 18 months old. But though nothing is severe enough that she would qualify now as "totally disabled" for SSI, like my older daughter it will impact her advancement in education and her options for employment. There is no job my oldest could get that would offer health coverage or pay enough for her to afford it herself. I fear for both my girls that if there is no help for those of us who can't afford health insurance, they will wind up like me, permanantly and totally disabled and costing the government more than if I was still only mildly disabled and able to work and contribute through taxes.

You mentioned Medicare's low reimbursement rates and their negative affects on providers in lower-income areas. The inclusion of younger and, on average, healthier people who are still working and could contribute to the program while needing less care will increase revenue, allowing reimbursement rates to be raised. We all know that hospitals inflate bills for everyone else to offset costs of treating others eligible for charity write-offs, filing for bankruptcy, or who just default on payment. This practice also affects current government-run medical programs. Recently, I had to go to the ER, drove myself, and had nothing besides a simple 5 minute EKG and a blood test. My condition had stabilized and my tests were OK, so they sent me home -- Medicaid was billed almost $2000. The same blood test is $60 at my doctor's office.

Taxpayers are already paying for the uninsured now, whether in extra costs billed to Medicaid/Medicare, or directly as increased insurance premiums. If everyone is covered, all will have access to care that can minimize, or even prevent future health problems, keeping our workforce larger and more productive. More people staying healthy and working means more tax revenue for all programs, as well as more money earned to circulate and strengthen the economy. The current system subsidizes private insurance companies that overcharge policyholders to cover 30% overhead and make a handful of executives multi-millionaires, and still denies treatment. Money paid for premiums would instead be better spent on a program for all, keeping millions more people healthy and contributing members of society. That can only be better for America.

At free clinic, scenes from the Third World -- latimes.com

2009-08-16T14:24:00.003-04:00

At free clinic, scenes from the Third World -- latimes.com

How L.A.'s massive free clinic event came together -- latimes.com

2009-08-16T14:21:00.003-04:00

How L.A.'s massive free clinic event came together -- latimes.com

Super-clinic finds super-need in L.A. region -- latimes.com

2009-08-16T07:54:00.018-04:00

Don't let Dick Armey/Freedom Works get away without saying how their anti-public option group explains the 10,000 uninsured or underinsured expected to be treated by Remote Area Medical's eight-day clinic in L.A.

This international charity who's primary focus was third-world countries and disasters, now serves thousands in America EVERY YEAR at annual clinics, like the ones in TN, VA, and KY. Most of these folks are working, and many have insurance, but it is grossly inadequate. People are camping out, sleeping in cars for days to be in line for treatment, including children. What is his solution for them? The insurance executives he's in bed with make millions every year, that's EACH, not just spread over whole company. People are suffering and dying NOW from rationed care. But something tells me they're not showing up at these town halls, too busy working or standing in line for treatment that, if they're lucky, still comes only once a year.

Rosa Parks Poster Torn Up At McCaskill Town Hall (VIDEO)

2009-08-15T04:29:00.010-04:00

To all claiming not racial, just her fault for having sign, clip doesn't show footage of white people inside with signs, held up over their heads, and police overheard saying it doesn't look good to only remove black person while leaving whites alone, but they do anyway.

The white people clapping when she was shoved out didn't see what happened, they just whooped and hollered.

Extended clip at http://hatingnotdebating.blogspot.com/2009/08/full-story-from-mccaskills-town-hall

Video proves race was an issue, both by unequal enforcement, and automatic assumption on the part of white crowd and Senator McCaskill that black women had done something wrong, not the old white guy. When Maxine Johnson was interviewed, she denied causing trouble McCaskill mentioned, told her version of events, and when clip showing old guy starting it was played, interviewer Rick Sanchez said, hmm, shows she was telling the truth.

She also said many signs were brought in, and when entering, she was only told not to hold up while Sen talking, out of respect, which is why she rolled it up and kept it down. Considering her word on the rest of the story has been confirmed by video to be true, her version of other events also hold more credibility than rabble cheering from ignorance and prejudice. Ms. Johnson deserves an apology from Sen. McCaskill. I hope to go to my Congressman's town hall this week, but I'm worried--not alone and not without a videocamera.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Educated response to Obama's Healthcare logo comparison to Nazi symbols

2009-08-08T03:32:00.014-04:00

Title links to site on this issue where I posted a reply --

LabrujaRoja 3:19 am on August 8, 2009

Is everyone really that friggin ignorant? Choice of logo should not be at all controversial to anyone with half a brain, quick search finds this entry for Caduceus symbol:
“Caduceus ~ Symbolic staff surmounted by two wings and entwined with two snakes. Among the ancient Greeks the caduceus was carried by heralds and ambassadors as a badge of office and a mark of personal inviolability, because it was the symbol of Hermes, the messenger of the gods. The caduceus has been adopted as a symbol by the medical profession; it is also the emblem of the medical branches of the United States Army and Navy. Source: Encarta Encyclopedia”
There it is, boring cultural context, medical symbol used to represent medical care. There are numerous sites including pictures. No “Nazi” eagle, look close wackjobs, just the wings as classically described. Unless all Western doctors are Nazis, oh, including those serving in US Army and Navy. What’s next, attacking flight attendents who give kids souvenir wings by calling them recruiters for Obama-as-Hitler Youth? Obama isn’t threat to America, it’s that education system produced so many stupid people shouting stupidly.

Here's link to another site comparing Obama's healthcare logo to many of these I refer to above, plus a few others offered by folks posting replies, some pretty funny.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/obama-health-care-logo

Cranium Stew (It's Brain Food...)

My Atheist Response to Giles County Schools' 10 Commandments Brouhaha

Atheist Cat says Christmas is NOT the only "Reason for the Season"

"Hispanicity" - Perceptions of Race in Immigration Politics (from comment thread for Politics Daily Facebook cartoon link)

Birth of a notion - My experiment to share my posts from other comment threads.

My Response Comment on HuffPo Article: "Securing Our Future Through Our Children's Health" by Sec. Tom Vilsack

*UPDATE* to Last Post Re: My Husband in the Hospital

Husband in Hospital, my Mexican Mother-in-Law needs Visitor's Visa ASAP

Take 2 on "Illegal Alien" Halloween Costume

My take on the "Illegal Alien" Halloween Costume Controversy

Don't use me for YOUR propaganda, Caleb Howe!

Healthcare Reform: Letter to my U.S. Congressman -- Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA)

At free clinic, scenes from the Third World -- latimes.com

How L.A.'s massive free clinic event came together -- latimes.com

Super-clinic finds super-need in L.A. region -- latimes.com

Rosa Parks Poster Torn Up At McCaskill Town Hall (VIDEO)

Educated response to Obama's Healthcare logo comparison to Nazi symbols

UPDATE to Last Post Re: My Husband in the Hospital