Great take on Arizona immigration flap via sports

Great post.

 

A related story: when Social Security was rung in, it was widely bandied about that your number would never, ever be used as
(essentially) a national ID number.

Try not to laugh.


Don't give an inch, if you don't have to.

"They" are wired to keep as close tabs on you as they possibly can.

Make it hard on the bastards. The great implied right within the
Constitution and its amendments is the right to be left alone.

 

That's a cop-out. Nothing is stopping anybody from growing their own produce, or from taking advantage of food cooperatives that provide fresh fruit and vegetables to people at reasonable prices.

 

Which is fine on a very small scale. On a big scale and in a big metropolitan area that's simply not feasible.

Americans wouldn't take the lettuce picking jobs for $30 an hour. It's horrid, back-breaking work. It's why a guest worker program is inevitable if we ever get serious about immigration reform. Despite the many legitimate problems that go along with illegal immigration... we really do need the labor.

 

And right there is the problem (not sure what it's got to do with this thread really, but because it was brought up) ...
People in this country need to quit waiting on government handouts and get off their asses. A buddy of mine was just telling me tonight his wife who has a college degree made 16K last year at a full time job. His nephew drew 11K in unemployment and didn't do anything more than walk to the mailbox.

 

I wish it wasn't that way. But I guess you're right - many people are just too soft.

As for living in a metropolitan area and having access to good, cheap produce, I admit my suggestion may well be wishful thinking. I've lived my whole life in a small city which is surrounded by rural communities, and weekly farmers markets are ways of life. I wish they could happen on larger scales.

 

OK, to the journalistic angle ... what about blogosphere and other social media organizing the protests? It was amazing how quickly the May Day protests formed, and how quickly protests started up around Arizona Diamondbacks games, or the presence of the Los Suns uniforms.

Oh, and I wonder if this is going to happen?

 

Phil Jackson, activists weigh in:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/05/activists-protest-lakers-coach-phil-jackons-comments-on-arizonas-new-immigration-law.html

 

I love this part:

“We want to know the team and Phil Jackson’s opinion on the law,” Gonzalez said.

Supporters of the rally said they wanted to give Jackson and the Lakers the opportunity to clarify their position on the Arizona law. Activists voiced the hope that both the Lakers and Jackson would follow the Suns’ example and come out against Arizona’s plan.

“We want to give Phil Jackson the benefit of the doubt,” said Nativo Lopez, head of the Mexican American Political Assn. “There are nuances here that Phil Jackson perhaps is not familiar with. He’s an expert at basketball but not at immigration law.”

OK, so if he's not an expert at immigration law, why do you care what his opinion of this statute is? And why is it so important that the team has a position regarding this law? It's a basketball team -- who the hell cares what its management and coaches think about an immigration law in another state?